Tales of the Supernatural

TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL
Bekka Hanson
Utah State University
Fife Folklore Archives
Logan, Utah
History 489!English 524
Instructor: Toelken
Summer 1991
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List of Informants
Stefanis 8jerregaard - Stefanis is a 20 year old Liberal Arts major from Roy, Utah. She Is a
member of the Kappa Delta sorority. and Is a fairly religious Catholic. She throws
excellent barbecues.
Shaun Federico - Shaun is 19 years old and was born and bred in Cache Valley. He is a
Theater Arts major and tends to be dramatic. He also had a twin brother named
Shane. He's just recently married to Susan Federico. Shaun works with me at the
Center for Persons with Disabilities in the AssistivB Technology Department.
Susan Federico - Susan is 35 and originally from Delta. Utah. She has lived in Logan for
several years, however. She also works with me in the Assislive Technology
Department at the CPO.
Jennifer Harding · (All names have been changed to protect the innocent.) Jennifer is a
pseudonym for a girl who wishes to remain anonymous. She Is 23 and from Corrine,
Utah. She will graduate in the fall with a sociology degree, but should have gone into
fashion design. She is also a member of the Kappa Delta sorority.
Bakka Hanson - I am a 23 year old university graduate who has lived in Logan for five years.
I grew up in Salt Lake City and Magna, Utah. My interests include performance,
research, writing, and working with people. (This is what it says on my resume.)
Julie Johnson· Julie is my roommate and a very good friend of mine. She is 22, and hails
from Drem, Utah. She is quite religious in the LOS faith. She is very musically
talented, and is getting her degree in Music Therapy. She is the middle child in a
family of seven. She has more ghost stories than anyone I've ever heard in my life.
Irving Berlin Jones· Irving is a pseudonym for someone who wishes to remain anonymous,
and after you read ·Shelly's Ghost- I think you'll understand why. This person is 21,
the oldest of seven children, and comes from a strong Mormon background. He Is very
soft spoken and down to earth. He also grew up in Cache Valley.
Joe Pitkin· Joe just turned 21 and also just graduated with a degree in English. He plays
cello and bass, and is an excellent poet. He was raised in Cache Valley, and is from
Quaker background. He's also closely related to a certain member of the English
Department faculty who shall remain nameless (Will Pitkin).
Bill Stanley· Bill is a concert pianist extrordanaire, and has played with the Utah
Symphony. He is 21 and comes from a very non-religious background. He also was
raised in Cache Valley, and is good friends with both Irving and Joe.
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Autobiographical Sketch
First of all, I hate autobiographical sketches because I don't have too much to say
about myself that isn't totally boring. If I sound kind of stupid, please forgive me. I hate to
write about myself. Here's the basics. My name is Bekka Hanson and I am a 23 year old Utah
State University Graduate. I have a B.S. in Psychoiogy, and I liked graduating so much that I
stuck around and got a second B.S. In Philosophy. I would tike to get my Maste(s Degree in
American Studies with and Emphasis on Folklore, and I would like to start on this in the fall of
1991. I was born In Salt Lake City and grew up there and in Magna, Utah. I graduated from
Cyprus High in 1986. I was a poor student. I am the youngest child, and have a brother who
Is 28.
I started out to do a paper on legend-tripping, since I was a legend-tripper, but ended
up basically doing a paper on adolescent ghost stories. I got some really interesting stuff.
My favorite story is "Shelly's Ghost, .. which begins on page 36, if you want to read it. This
paper is very long, and I didn't mean to write a book, but it physically hurt every time I cut
out a story. Some of those pages are pictures, and I also was able to obtain a pamphlet on
Gilgal, which I enclosed. (Pages 27-35.) I really enjoyed doing this paper, and I hope you
enjoy reading it. Usten to the tape if you can, because the people who tell the stories are
what make them interesting.
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Table of Conlenls
Cover Essay .......... ............................................................................................. 1
Ghost Stories From Famous People
"Eric elaplon and the Poster,· Joe Pitkin ................................................. 5
"Three Men and a Baby Ghost,- Susan Federico ......................................... 6
Weird Things From Grade School
"The Pinkie Thing; Bill Sian ley ............................................................... 7
"Bloody Mary: Julie Johnson, Bekka Hanson ............. .............................. 8
Legend-Tripping Stories
"The Logan Cemetery Weeping Woman," Bekka Hanson ... ........................... 10
"The Logan Cemetery Weeping Woman; Shaun Federico ........... ................ 12
"The Logan Cemetery Weeping Woman,"Julie Johnson .............................. 14
·The Provo Cemetery Weeping Woman,· Julie Johnson ............................ 14
"St. Ann's Retreat," Irving Berlin Jones .................................................. 15
"S1. Ann's Retreat," Shaun Federico ................................. ... ..... .............. 16
"Kaye's Cross," Stefanie Bjerregaard ............................. ......... ............... 18
"Emu's Grave," Bekka Hanson ..................................................... ............ 20
"Hobitland or Allan Park," Bekka Hanson ................................................. 22
"The Ogden Cemetery Statue," Stefanie Bjerregaard ............................... 24
"The Devil House," Julie Johnson ................................ ............................ 26
"Gilgal or the Flintstone Park," Julie Johnson, Bekka Hanson ................... 27
Real Ghosts Stories
"Shelly's Ghost," Irving Berlin Jones ......... ...... ............. ...... .................... 36
"Shane's Ghost," Shaun Federico ........................................................ ..... 38
"Allysa," Jennifer Harding ................... ..................... .............. .. .. ........... 39
Stories of the Devil
II Jay's Journal, II Julie Johnson ................ ................... ............................ 41
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-Tales of the Supernatural-
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In our American society today. we are fascinated by the supernatural. AJmost every
popular magazine has either a horoscope or a numerology section. In the July 1991 Elle
magazine, most of the issue was devoted to the occult In the form of tarot cards, runes, and
astrology. In the entertainment media, recent movies such as -Ghost- and -Flalliners· have
used supernatural themes as the basic storyline. and television programs such as ·Unsolved
Mysteries· regularly devote some time to stories that supposedly can be explained by the
paranormal. Papers like the Star and the National Enquirer thrive on such stories, and
regularly feature accounts of the supernatural, whether it be UFOs or actual ghost sightings.
Supernatural events are featured in legitimate medis, too, but usually the emphasis Is to
prove that the events in question were not supernatural in origin. There Is even a
professional psychological society that is devoted to the study of the paranormal. In my
own, very non-scientific research, I was amazed at the wealth of supernatural stories that
are being told by people of my own age group, and, specifically, by my friends. These
stories abound, and the telling of one will often trigger the telling of another In a different
individual. This is all seeminglt incongruous, since we pride ourselves on being a rational
society. People like carl~O;and other noted scientists are very public about their feelings
on the supernatural. We ~hink of ourselves as a society that has thrown away
superstition and has become -enlightened- through our advanced science and technology.
We'd like to think that only uneducated people wouk:J believe In such things. Religion has taken
a beating in this Issue, since God and all the miracles also dwell in the realm of the
supernatural. Yet, seemingly in spite of our advancements in technology and science, things
of the supernatural become more prevalent every day.
Carl Jung made a prediction at the beginning of this century that America and western
society In general would become neurotic, and this wouk:J be due, partially, to our emphasis
on technology. He could see the beginnings of it, and believed it was caused in part by the
industrial revolution. We, as a human species, need an outlet to things of the supernatural,
the spiritual, or, basically, things which cannot be known, since the supernatural Is such a
basic part of our own psyche. Religion used to be our outlet for this. Joseph Campbell
stated in -The Power of Myth- that religion is no longer doing it's job. What religion does for
us now is to teach us morals and ethics. It doesn't give us a way to get in touch with that
supernatural aspect of ourselves. We have become a very neurotic society because we have
denied ourselves an expression of the supernatural. By denying the supernatural, we deny
intrinsic characteristics of ourselves. Consequently, we as a society are terrified of the
supernatural because it is unknown, it is unprovable, and yet it is also within us. Most
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psychologists In all disciplines of the field believe that when the psyche gets too far out of
balance, It will try to compensate. This comes out oftentimes In our dreams. If this
balancing problem Is not resolved, It results In neurosis. Our whole society Is off balance
since we are so technically oriented. and supernatural stories. like dreams, are trying In
part to compensate for this.
We deny there is such a thing as -inspiration: yet individuals who work in -hard­sciences
afe often among those who are most Inspired. In hindsight, they can explain their
methods very rationally and scientifically. In "The Will to Power" Frledreich Nietzsche
warned us of the dangers of living in a technological society. "God is dead," he stated. "God
remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, the murderers of all murderers,
comfort ourselves? .. .ls not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not
ourselves become gods simply to seem worthy of it?" And that is what we have done in our
society. It Is looked down upon to have a belief in God or in any form of supernaturalism. In
it's place we have put technology, and the scientific method is the way we worShip. Jean·
Paul Sartre would say we are simply deluding oursetves in a different way. We have
substituted God with the works of man and the order of nature. We do not believe in the truth
of our own spirit, not onfy in a religious sense, but in a non·rational, creative, emotive sense
as well.
We are taught that everything has a rational explanation. We are told at a very young
age that there are no such things as ghosts. We do It so that children won't be afraid of what
we believe Is not there. However, by doing this we deny the affirmation and recognition of
the unknowable. We have no basis for dealing with a supernatural experience. What happens.
then, when an individual has one of these experiences? The most common thing Is just to not
talk about it, which is what Dr. David Hufford found in his research with the old hag
experience. Evidence Indicates that about twenty per cent of the population of any given
SOCiety, including our own, has had this experience. Yet it was completely unknown until just
a few years ago because no one talked about It.
We are victims of our rational society. Those who have had a paranormal experience
set up a logical proof system to show that the event had to be caused by some supernatural
thing. In -Allysa's Ghost- later in this paper, Jennifer Harding tells of an event where helium
balloons moved of their own accord. She lays out step by step why this could be evidence of
a ghost: the beams in the ceiling would not allow the balloons to move, there were no drafts,
and the balloons turned a 90 degree angle. Outsiders to the experience try to explain It
away: there must have been some reason that you overlooked. Even events that completely
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defy explanation can be explained away with -you must have had a hallucination; or -it was
just a trk:k of the mind.- In different societies you could say -I have seen a ghost- and have
that be accepted for what it's worth without any required proofs. Often the person who has
had the experience becomes a person of some renown and respect. In our SOCiety, they are
labeled as crackpots.
On one level. supernatural stories, whether they happen to us personaUy or not.
become a way for us to deal with these kinds of events. These things are very uncomfortable
for us, and the stories become a kind of model for dealing with the paranormal. These
stories start appearing at a very early age, as in the story of -Bloody Mary: and of -The
Pinkie Thing: By doing these things as children and latter on in our teens, we are trying to
associate oursetves with that which cannot be explained.
The ultimate of the unexplainable is the experience of death. As Jean-Paul Sartre said
in -Being and Nothingness: death Is the one experience no one can avoid or put off. Sooner
or later it will happen to us aU. In our technical society, there is no room for death. We
rationalize it as much as we can by understanding the biological aspects of it, but the
spiritual aspect is completely terrifying to us. In one minute there is a living, breathing,
intelligent person here, and in the next there is nothing but an empty shell. Where did that
( person go? Where will I go when it happens to me? What happens after death is the pinnacle
of the unknown.
A strong reaction to this is our emphasis on youth. We want to be the ageless society.
Plastic surgery is a booming industry, the making of old people younger. We don't want to be
reminded of death, and consequently, we have little respect for elderly people. Much of the
time we'd rather put them in nursing homes than have to take care of them In their old age.
We hope for medical breakthroughs that will stop or at least slow the aging process.
The concept of death is a major element in the legend-tripping stories. When we reach
our teens, death starts becoming more of a reality. In my own case, there was a boy In my
class who was killed in a car aCCident when I was a freshman. The thought begins to occur
that death could happen to me. Legend-tripping is a confrontation with death. Oftentimes this
is a direct confrontation, as in the stories where you go to the cemetery to see a ghost or
other apparition. In a non-direct sense, legend-tripping confronts death by confronting the
supernatural. The fear element that is common to aU these types of stories is the
confirmation of life itself. The fact that you are feeling fear means that you are still alive.
But these stories are often about confronting that fear, by actually getting out of the car, and
consequently, being able to draw strength from that experience.
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On a higher lovel, supernatural stories help us come In contact with the unknowable In
ourselves, Joseph Campbell would call" "the journey Inward," Buddhists call It "the
pathway to enlightenment.- We are so afraid of not knowing; we are terrified of the
unknowable. And we deny these aspects of ourselves. Science can bring together all of the
elements of life and actually create organic compounds from basic elements, yet they cannot
make these oompounds live. The process of birth is a supernatural experience In and of
itself. These stories tell us that the supernatural Is alive and thriving in our society, and
perhaps this Is because of our denial of it. The more It Is denied, the stronger It asserts
itself, And in some way, they take the place of the old mythologies, These stories can help
us get in touch with the supernatural in each of us, and help us on our own inward journey.
seeker of truth
follow no path
all paths lead where
truth is here
-8. B. cummings
These stories come from my culture, which means to say that everyone Is between
the ages of 19 and 35, we all come from a predominantly Utah Mormon society, which is
different from a Mormon society outside of Utah, and we're fairly sheltered In comparison
to, say New York, l.A., or Detroit. The drug issue comes out in many of the stories. We
didn't have problems with gangs. Our religious intensity varies widely . . Some of these people
are extremely religious, most come from a religious background and are kind of neutral, and
one was raised in a completely atheistic family. Nevertheless, we all have supernatural
stories of one sort or another. They are independent of religious affiliation.
A lot of these stories are really fun read. Many are humorous, and some are extremely
serious. Some may be easily explained, but the important thing 10 remember is that for the
people they happened to, these stories are very real. The person was effected by It. or the
story wouk:Jn'l have been told at all.
There are five different categories of stories: Ghost Stories From Famous People.
Weird Things From Grade School, Legend·Tripping Stories. Real Ghosts Stories, and Stories
of the Devil. I'll discuss each category as I get to il. All of the Interviews took place In
Logan, Utah, in July of 1991.
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Ghost Stories From Famous People
There are a lot of ghost stories going around about famous people. It seems that people who
don't have any supernatural experiences of their own usually know of a ghost story relating to someone
else. Celebrities are the ultimate ·someone else: These stories tend to be fairly visible among the
members of the specific group that the story would relate 10. Several of my friends who like Eric
e laplon and his music know the story that Joe relates. Many people that have seen the movie "Three
Men and a Baby· know the story Susan relates.
Ghost Stories From Famous People
-Eric elaplOn and the Poster"
Joe Pitkin
July 15. 1991
Contextual Information: Julie, Bill, Joe, Irving and I were al Joe and Irving's apartment. Julie and I
had been telling ghost stories all day. We asked Joe if he had one, and this is what he told us.
Joe: There's one about Eric Clapton and how he wrote -In the Presence of the lord" I ... that's like, it
never happened to me.
Bekka: I've never heard it. Do you know something that happened to a friend? Tell me the one about
Eric ...
Joe: Well. I consider Eric Clapton a friend.
Bill: He's a friend.
Bekka: Go ahead, tell me the one about Eric Clapton and the ...
Joe: Well, like, when Eric Clapton wrote -In the Presence of the lord,- which it is, I guess,
admittedly a departure for, for him, he said that..umm, that it happened, 'cause this was like when he
was, I guess, still addicted to heroin. And ... and he was down at some record shop just buying posters,
and he bought, like, one of Jimi Hendryx and another of something else, I think like Jimi Hendryx and
Janis Joplin. I think is what he said. And he had them, like, rolled up, and he took them home, and he
said when he unrolled them, it was like Jimi Hendryx one, and then in between it, the Jimi Hendryx and
the Janis Joplin, it was this poster of Jesus, that's just sort of like ..•
Bekka: Whoa.
Joe: Yeah, it was Just sort of like Jesus just sitting there smiling, and so he freaked out and wrote -In
the Presence of the lord. - And that's really the only one I know. That's, I mean, I don't know what
happened to it or if he's still got the Jesus poster or if maybe someone slipped it in ...
Bekka: And the guy at the poster shop didn't slip it in?
Joe: J imagine it was probably just like any place, like -buy-two-posters-get-a-poster-of-Jesus­free-
day, and Eric didn't see the sign saying -get-your- free.Jesus-poster day" But I guess he was
really changed by it, so ...
Bekka: That's a good story.
-Eric Clapton and the Poster- has elements that are important to my culture, primarily having
some kind of experience that would cause a person to stop doing drugs. Even though Eric Clapton's
experience could be due to the drugs themselves, or to another easily explained situation, it supposedly
did effect him very much and did cause him to stop doing drugs. This story also has elements of
getting back to religious roots, as well as a lot of pop culture type things (the Jimi Hendryx and Janis
Joplin posters).
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Ghost Stories From Famous People
-rhree Men and a Baby Ghosr
Susan Federico
July 25, 1991
Contextual Information: I quizzed all the people I work with 10 see if they had ghost stories.
Susan: Kay. this is a story from the movie -Three Men and a Unle .... , or "Three Men and a Baby,­And
during the movie, there's a part in the movie if you watch real close when the grandma comes to
visit where you can see a boy in the background. And he is a ghost because his mother called up the
station, after the movie was published she saw it on television and recognized the little boy and those
were the clothes that he was wearing the day he was, he was killed. and that was their home that it
was filmed in.
Bekka: Oh, did you see it in the movie? Have you seen it?
Susan: Um-hum (yes). Yeah, you can see him, he's wearing a red shirt, and you can see him as plaln
as day, right In the curtain.
Bekka: Wow, 00 you know how he was killed?
Susan: Some kind of an accident. I'm not real sure what it was. But he was, he died in the home where
the movie took place where they were filming.
I\le heard this story quite a bit, and it's always pretty much the same. A few of the stories I
heard during the Fife Folklore Conference in June of 1991. This story show elements that are common
among ghost stories, specifically the idea of a violent death in a specifIC place where the ghost
continues to reside. In this story, the boy is still wearing the clothes he was killed in. The fact that he
is a ghost is confirmed by the mother. All these elements are set up to prove that this is an actual
ghost story and not a bad editing job on the part of the movie people.
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Weird Things From Grade School
This type of experience is a Jot more common than I thought it was. Since I\le done my
research, almost everyone I've talked to under the age of about thirty had some kind of little
supernatural activity they did in elementary school. This would seem to Indicate that the need or
desire for supematural contact begins fairly early_ These experiences are a very young form of legend­tripping.
Children are going to a certain place and doing certain things that will invoke some kind of
paranormal activity. Latter the activities become more sophisticated and invoive teen-related
alements, like cars, drug activity, and breaking the law.
"The Pinkie Thing- seems to be a universal Cache Valley activity, at least among the friends I
have that grew up In Cache Valley. The fact that Julie and I both did it in Orem and Salt lake,
respectively, makes me wonder if irs more of a Utah activity. Bill's story contains the primary
legend-tripping element, death, in the form of a simulated violent accident. This story suggests that
even pretend death can invoke a supernatural experience.
Weird Things From Grade School
"The Pinkie Thing"
Bill Stanley
July 15, 1991
Contextual Information: Bill came over to my apartment while Julie and I were telling ghost stories.
( asked him if he had one, and this is what he told us.
Bill: We were In elementary school...
JuUe: Don't go on. I never want to hear any more.
Bekka: Bilt. Just Bill.
Bill: And we used to have ...
Julie: Not Billy, just Bill.
Bekka: Not Joey, just Joe.
Bill: We'd aU gather around .... Would you shut up? We'd all gather around, well one person would Ue on
the ground out behind a tree or something on the playground, and, would lie on the ground, all of us
WOUld, aU the rest of us would gather around him, like two or three on each side, and then one person al
the head, there, with their like hands around the ears, or something. And the person on the head would
like, it would be sort of a chant thing. And we would all repeat after that person. And they would say,
"there's been an accident," and we would repeat "there's been an accident· --rhis boy has been hit by a
car," or something, fallen off a cliff, and he's alt...
Julie: I did this.
Bill: ... and then they say "he's, he's as sliff as a board,· and then we'd say ...
Bekl<a: We used to do this, too.
Bill: Oh, yeah, "he's as stiff as a board", and then we'd say "Call the ambulance." ·Call the
ambulance." -The ambulance is here." "The ambulance Is here." "Lift him into the ambulance." And
we'd aU have our pinkies underneath him.
Julie: And you can lift him.
Bill: And we could lift him. And we'd lift him clear up above our heads.
Bekka: We used to do this, too. Oh my gosh.
Julie: You really did?
Bill: And so we'd get the heaviest kid In the class, and we could lift him up.
Julie: You really did that? I always heard people did it but I ....
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Bekka: We did it, too.
Julie: And it works?
Bill: We should try it sometime.
Bekka: II does. it's got something to do with physics or something. I don't know how it does it.
Bill: We used to do it all the time.
Bekka: We had a teacher show us it.
-Bloody Mary· is a common activity among grade schoolers. My young cousins have done it at
my Grandparent's house during family reunions. It has the legend-tripping elements of secrecy and of
death, but death this time in the form of the supematural event actually killing you. It also has the
common legend-tripping element in that most of the time, nothing actually happens.
Weird Things From Grade School
-Bloody Mary-
Julie Johnson
Bekka Hanson
July 15, 1991
Contextual Data: Julie, Bill, and I were sitting around telling ghost stories one afternoon.
Bekka: Did you ever do like Bloody Mary?
Julie: I was Just going to say ... My brother always did.
Bekka: 'Cause that's what that part reminds me of, 'cause we'd do that and we never could make it
work. But, umm ....
Bill: What does it do?
Julie: You go in the bathroom and tum off the light and look in the mirror and say like, you have a linle
chant and the rules, you have a little hand thing, and it was like this ...
Bekka: We can't remember if it was -Bloody Mary, come to me, - -Bloody Mary come to me,· or
something, I can't remember what it was.
Julie: -Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary: And your supposed to see like an image of a red lady. or
something.
Bekka: And if you do it too long she comes out of the mirror and stabs you with her stick, and kills you.
Julie: I was like in elementary school.
Bekka: That was elementary for me.
JUlie: I had friends who would come screaming out of the bathroom swearing that they saw it, you're
was like, yeah.
Bekka: We never, we never saw it. We never saw it.
Julie: You're supposed to try it alone.
Bekka: We tried it at a slumber party in our house, it was also supposed to be like at midnight, too, so
that's why we figured it never worked in the bathroom at school.
Julie: That must have been!
Bekka: So we tried it at a slumber party. We still couldn't make it work.
Julie: But, I had friends who swore ...
Bekka: But I used to have nightmares about that lady coming out of the mirror, that used to give me
nightmares.
Julie: I had friends who swore that it worked.
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legend-Tripping Stories
This is an extremely popular adolescent activity. It extends well past high school and Into the
college years, as Julie's story of "The Logan Weeping Woman,· and my own show. One of the elements
Involved In legend-tripping is boredom, since the kids usually aren't old enough for more -adult­activities,
such as going to the bar, and most of the activities adolescents can do end by 1 :00. That
makes it the perfect time to go check out the graveyard.
Another element are the illegal aspects, which usually Include trespassing either on private
property or In the cemeteries (in most Utah cemeteries. It's Illegal to be In one after a certain time,
usually 10:00), and occasionally drug use. I'm sure some of the legend-tripping stories could Involve
some kind of vandalism, but none of the people I talked 10, including myself, participated in these kinds
of legend-tripping experiences.
Yet another element of this kind of adventure is the conquering of fear and of proving yourself
10 your peers. Irs really scary to go into a place like Gilgal or Hobitland so late at night. It's kind of
nerve-wracking In the daylight. The fact that you can actually go through with it gives a lot of self­confidence
as well as proving yourself to your friends. Of course, if more than one of the group doesn't
want to go through with it, that is a way of saving face. The rest of the group may still tease those
individuals, but at least they're not going through it alone.
The big element of legend-tripping is the confrontation with the supernatural, and in particular,
the confrontation with death. Death is a big issue in adolescence, and fascination with death is high.
There Is also a feeling In adolescence of being indestructible, so that even though there is a
confrontation with death, it is more of an abstract confrontation. None of these activities are
dangerous enough to cause death, unless drugs or some other element becomes involved. Irs almost a
safe way to see what the other world is like, or to see if there is another world. This element holds
especially true in the stories where the individuals went to the cemetery to actually see the ghost.
It is interesting to me that teen-agers are the ones who do this type of thing. When we get
older, we tend to put the thought of death away, to hide from it. even though the actual event looms
closer the older we get. The more real it becomes, the more we tend to ignore it. Most of us walk
around in our little boxes, as Thurber put it in ·Our Town,- and try not to think of things that will
disturb our mental states too much. Death is the big disturber. Adolescents, usually, like to be the
ones making the disturbance, and, in many cases, they like to be disturbed.
Another element in a legend-tripping story, which doesn't hold true in all cases, is that nothing
supernatural happens. More often than not, the people involved will scare themselves, or scare each
other. The fear does not come from an actual supernatural source, although the people involved would
like to think that it does. These kinds of legend-tripping stories deal more with the adventure aspects,
the thrill-seeking aspects of this kind of activity.
The final element is that of the purely social. Many times legend-tripping will occur as part of
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a date, or as the postlude to a group activity.
"The logan Cemetery Weeping Woman- is a popular story among adolescents here In
logan, probably due to the fact that the cemetery is right in the middle of the Utah State University
campus. There are several stories that the college students tell that involve the cemetery, and It has
become a place of Initiation and nightly activities among the students.
The three stories I've collected differ slightly in the extent of the legend known. Originally, I
knew nothing about the statue, but I learned several different versions of the legend during the Fife
Folklore Conference in June, 1991. In both Shaun's and Julie's stories, the main element of the legend
is that the statue cries. In my version, nothing happens, which could possibly be due to the fact that we
didn't know the legend. All we did was scare some kids. In the other two versions, the people who
went to see the statue were the ones who got scared. The lady actually cried. In both Shaun's and my
version, conditions had to be right before the lady would cry. Shaun claims that nothing happened on
the night I went because I didn't go on the right night. In Julie's story, the element of drugs comes Into
play. The conquering of fear and proving yourself to your peers in an important elament of both
Shaun's and Julie's stories, but especially in Julie's since this activity becomes part of a fraternity
initiation rite. Shaun's and my story have a lot of the social element involved. We went to have a good
time and for the thrill of it.
legend-Tripping Story
"The logan Cemetery Weeping Woman-
Bekka Hanson
July 15,1991
Contextual Data: Julie and I were sitting around one aftemoon talking about dumb things we did when
we were younger, and telling ghost stories. This is one that I told her. It contains some of the actual
legends surrounding the weeping woman statue in the logan Cemetery.
Bekka: The one time we went in, I'm going to put this story in my paper, too, I didn't know there was a
legend about it, I Just always really liked that statue.
Julie: Tell me the legend.
Bekka: The legend is ...
Julie: 'Cause I love that statue, too.
Bekka: Supposedly some tragedy happened, there's like a whole bunch of different stories. She either
murdered all her children, or her husband murdered all her children ...
Julie: Your kidding.
Bekka: My personal belief, and see there's a bunch of tombstones around and they're all these kids that
died when they were really young, and my personal belief is. I mean it's back in the 185Os, or
something like that, they just all died young.
Julie: Right.
Bekka: 'Cause a lot of times there was, like, infant mortality.
Julie: Right, they do.
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Bekka: And she just grieved the rest of her life. Thai's my favorite version of thaI. It's nothing like
nobody killed them or anything, they just all died fairly young, and she never got over it. She was
always known as someone who grieved. because she had had so much tragedy In her life, so lhey
erected that statue for her.
Julie: Hmmm.
Bekka: And on certain times people say there's like, your supposed to like gather round her and say
·cry, lady, cry- three times under a full moon, and all this stupid ...
Julie: ·Cry, lady, cry,- ·Cry, bitch, cry'-
Bekka: ·Cry, bitch, cry-. .three times under the full moon, and she cries, but I never knew any of the
legends or anything. I used to go in there and take pictures all the time.
Julie: This is your folklore thing?
Bekka: Yeah, we learned that in the folklore class. 'Cause I never heard any of the legends about it.
didn't even, I'm sure there were some but I'd never really heard any about it, I just always liked the
statue. We always used to go over to the Catholic part, too, 'cause there's some really cool statues
over there.
Julie: The Catholic part?
Bekka: The Catholic part that's back in the, you know where the HYPER, er, the Spectrum Is? Back
there? Irs kind of back in that comer, and there's a lot of big old statues and big coffin things that
they put over the graves. There's a lot of that kind of stuff in there we'd always take pictures there a
lot, we used to sneak in there all the time, but me and Judy and somebody, one guy, I think it was Dave,
snuck in there in the middle of the night one time and were around the lady, and it's illegal to be in
there, and a car pulled in ....
Julie: It is?
Bekka: ... we thought it was a cop.
Julie: At night it is?
Bekka: After like ten-thirty.
Julie: Oh.
Bekka: I don't know if they'll arrest you.
Julie: Well, the gates are like inviting you in with those orbs.
Bekka: No shit, if they'd shut the gates ...
Julie: They like tum the lights on and leave the gates open. Thars the creepiest. (cut)
Bekka: But anyway, we're in the cemetery and this car comes in and we all hit the ground, and Dave
Jumps behind the statue and it comes closer and closer, and we see as it comes closer it was like a
Pinto with like a couple of kids on a double date. And they pull up real slow to the weeping woman, and
you hear these girls -I'm not getting out of the car, I'm not getting out of the car,- and Dave jumps
from behind the statue ....
Julie: Oh, gee!!
Bekka: ... and goes ·Waaahh!!, - and they screamed, every one of them screamed and they totally pealed
out of the cemetery.
Julie: Ohl!
Bekka: I'm sure we started someone's legend.
Julie: Scaryil
Bekka: I'm sure somebody's telling stories.
Julie: I bet.
Bekka: The windows were all rolled up and everything and you could hear all of them, even the guys
were all, ·Wahhhhll,· they all screamed.
Julie: That is hilarious.
(
Legend-Tripping Story
-rhe logan Cemetery Weeping Woman-
Shaun Federico
July 25, 1991
Contextual Data: I had told the people I work with about my folklore class and how I had to write a
paper on the supernatural. Shaun had several stories he wanted to share.
Shaun: Kay. you go up to the cemetery ...
Bekka: Un-hun (yes).
Shaun: ... you go walk all the way back, and there's this huge lady, and next ... her head's like leaning
down and her hand's like this. (Demonstrates) And if you go right up to her. you go about twelve 0'
clock, you go up there, and there will be tears coming down her face, and you can touch them.
Bekka: Um-hm (yes). Did you do it?
Shaun: Yes. And there's water.
Bakka: Was there water when you touched it?
Shaun: Yes, and there's tears.
Bekka: So lell me about the trip when you guys went.
Shaun: When we went on the trip there was like about seven of us, we, and I had, and It was my first
time going up there, I went up there. and ... it was after a show. I did. And we went up there and we got
there and they drove us all the way to the top. And some, somebody went and touched her and just
started freaking out. I mean she, he, she was like running all over and she was all, and I was like ·oh.
my heck, what's going on?- And we all got totally scared. I mean we were... And the car stalled. It
didn't, it wouldn't start.
Bekka: Oh, my gosh.
Shaun: I thought -this is too reaL-I thought -let's get out.­Bekka:
Oh, my gosh!
Shaun: So I'm like walking back, I'm like running, actually, I ain't walking it, I'm running out, and that,
that's it. I'm not going to go there ever again. I haven't been there ever since.
Bekka: Cool. That's a good one.
Shaun: But you'll have to go up there and see it.
Bekka: I've been up there and seen it but she's never cried for me.
Shaun: She hasn't?
Bekka: Um·mm (no).
Shaun: You have to go about twelve o' clock. when we went on October 31 sl.
Bekka: Oh, did you?
Shaun: Yep.
Bekka: Was it like a full moon or anything. or just the day?
Shaun: Full moon.
Bekka: Wow.
Shaun: It has to be a full moon, I think.
\1.
(
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legend-Tripping Story
"The logan Cemetery Weeping Woman-
Julie Johnson
July 15, 1991
Contextual Data: Julie and I sat around one afternoon and told ghost stories. She had some really good
ones, and this is one of them.
Julie: My frat friend said they went out there once for one of their initiation things, and my friend
swears she was crying blood. I don't know what they had 10 do, but they were all trashed. They were
like going in there for some dare, to do like a treasure hunt or something and they had to gather all
these clues out of the cemetery, and he swears - he's really cool, too - he swears. Maybe they were
on acid, something.
Bekka: I was going to say, "what were they taking:
Julie: He swears she, it was in blood.
Bekka: She does have tear stains on her face.
Julie: That's weird, I never noticed that.
Bekka: But it could be just because the way the rain around her drips.
Julie: Probably.
Bekka: That mIght be where the rainwater would naturally drip, because the way she, they would, the
tears could gather when it rains in her eyes and then ....
Julie: 'Cause thars really creepy.
"The Provo Cemetery Weeping Woman- is a variation on the weeping woman theme. To make
her cry, you have to go on certain nights when there is a full moon.
Legend-Tripping Story
"The Provo Cemetery Weeping Woman-
Julie Johnson
July 15, 1991
Contextual Oata: Julie told me this story the same day as the Logan weeping woman stories were told.
Julie: In the Provo cemetery they have a lady like the one in Logan.
Bekka: That weeps?
Julie: Either she's weeping or she's standing, but that was like a big thing, people would always go out
there and say she was crying on certain fun moons.
Bekka: Did you know what they had to do to make her cry?
Julie: Uh-uh (no).
Bekka: Was there something special?
Julie: No.
\A-
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·St. Ann's Retreat- is a legend about a nunnery up in Logan Canyon. In both of the stories I
collected, babies were killed, although the actual details of how many and why this happened are a little
bit confused. Shaun puts forth proof in the form of newspaper articles he's collected about the story.
In Irving's story, nothing happens that is supernaturally related, but he feels this is due to the group's
lack of spirit during the trip. In Shaun's story. quite a bit happens, including the theory that his brother
Shane puts forth that the floors were shined with blood. Both stories have dogs that are known for
their viciousness in them. Both stories have a lot of social elements, especially Shaun's where he and
his friends went up for a barbecue and a picnic while they waited for It 10 get dark before they started
the actual legend-trip. What's interesting is that they couldn't find the place again after that adventure.
Legend-Tripping Story
-St. Ann's Retreat-
Irving Berlin Jones
July 15, 1991
Contextual Data: Irving, Bill, Joe, Julie and I were at Joe and Brad's apartment and were telling ghost
stories.
Irving: We went to S1. Ann's Retreat and heard that if you walked, either walked backwards up the
trail and say -hecketa, hecketa, hecketa· the whole way and then when you get up there you're
supposed to be able to see either the dogs in the bottom of the pool or else a baby in the bottom of the
pool..
Julie: Really?
Irving: .. .'cause this nun supposedly had a baby and drown it to hide it from people, or her, the other
sisters in the convent drown it to hide it from the people, and you ... you're supposed to up there when
it's a full moon or else walk backwards and say -heckaty* or something, and you can eth ... and some
people say they can hear the dogs, that you can hear the dogs bark. 'Cause apparently the chick had
two dogs, like big German shepherds, so you either see them or the baby in the pool or hear them bark,
but.. ..
Julie: Is there a pool up there?
Bekka: Like a swimming pool, or .. . ?
Irving: Yeah.
Julie: Little a pond, or a pool?
Irving: A, like a pool. But nothing happened when we did it.
Bekka: You guys just walked up there?
Irving: Yeah. We weren'!...
JUlie: That's interesting.
Irving: ... reaJly in it, in the right mood ....
Julie: Well there were some girls who came in to ....
Irving: ... 1 mean we were like, ·oh, let's just go see what's going to happen ....
Bekka: You didn't do it for the hell of it, or ... ?
Irving: Not truly believing. like when we did that thing, picking people up with our pinkies, that was
kind of weird, 'cause it really did work.
Bill: And it was light, it wasn't like picking up something heavy.
Irving: Yeah, yeah.
Bekka: 'Cause we did that when I was in elementary school, too. It had something to do with physics or
something, though. It's like a real th ing.
Irving: Something to do with ....
Bill: I always thought it was psychological.
IS
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legend-Tripping Story
·St. Ann's Retreat-
Shaun Federico
July 25, 1991
Contextual Oa1a: This is another ghost story that Shaun told me at work one afternoon.
Bekka: Is this SI. Ann's Retreat?
Shaun: Yeah. O.k., this is, what is it again?
Bekka: 51. Ann's Retreat?
Shaun: O.k. Here we go. O.k., my friends came up from Salt lake City, told them about the St. Ann's,
the place where the mothers kill the babies. I don't know if you'Ve heard about the story or not. I have
some newspaper articles on it.
Bekka: Oh, really?
Shaun: And anyway ...
Bekka: Oh, can I xerox them? That would be cool.
Shaun: If I can find them, I'U find them, jf I don't I'U go look them up at the logan library. They're
there.
Bekka: 'Cause I can look them up if you know what dates and stuff.
Shaun: I'U gel them. Anyway. we, uh, we went up there when they wanted to see it, they'd heard
about it so we said we'll go all, all 'bout seven of us went up there, seven or eight. 'Bout three gins.
So we went up there and we didn'1 take a flashlight, we just didn't think and we just walked up. It was
during the light. And then we went up there, walked up, and we got, we saw the place and it looked
pretty normal, like, you know, o.k. And we just stayed up there, had a barbecue, and pretty ...
Bekka: Fun.
Shaun: And we had a good time, and it got dark. And, uh, all of a sudden, Shane said -lars go Inside.­'
Cause we didn't go inside yet, inside the big building.
Bekka: Un-hun (yes).
Shaun: And we went inside the building. And the floors were like shiny. You could see, the moon was
shining in from, into the glass. And you could see the floor and it was like shiny. And Shane's like
-there's blood on those boards, they shined them with blood: You know. And it looked like, It looked
like blood. Like, like all, I mean, it was Just freaky. And you COUldn't see, we didn'1 touch it.
Bekka: Oh, my gosh.
Shaun: So I'm bru ... I'm up in front brushing. I'm using like a brush, I had this big long brush, and, to
sweep it, and I'm like -I'm going to keep this in front of me and stuff in case somebody comes in front of
me.
Bekka: Un-hun (yes).
Shaun: I can, I can feel them. And, you know, I'm going up, and all of a sudden, you get up there, and I
hit the wall. And I mean, Whoall We're all running out, we hit the wall, we didn'1 know were we're
going 'cause there, it goes in around In a square. And we got lost, totally lost in there. And we went
out, and, um, finally we got out, and, uh, the light went off. And on. And off. And we thought -this is
i1. -
Bekka: Like the electric light?
Shaun: Yeah. And at the end ...
Bekka: Oh, my gosh.
Shaun: So we're like "we're out of hear." And we started running, we get cau . .lost 'cause we don'1
have a flashlight. So we're lost in the woods and we're all running. And then, uh, we finally made it
down.
Bekka: Cool.
Shaun: So you have to go up there and see it.
Bekka: I don'1 even know where it is. I had another friend tell me a story yesterday about the place.
Shaun: It's up around second dam, I think.
Bekka: It's up there in the woods somewhere.
Shaun: Yeah. We went back up to find it, we can't find it So we're going to have to go during the
( daylight and see if we can, pull off the side of the road and find it. There's a gate and every1hing. And
be sure to lock your car.
(
Bekka: Hmm.
Shaun: 'Cause people do trick things. But it was really freaky, I mean. We saw the doberman pictures.
Bekka: You did?
Shaun: The, uh, there was like, uh, I think it was mostly, I think it was the ghost. I think mostly they
were ghost doberman pinchers. And we saw the pool. You untake, you undo the tarp and every1hing,
you can see the bloodstains in the cement. like ...
Bekka: Wow.
Shaun: ... they're brownish.
Bekka: Wow.
Shaun: Where they dropped the babies.
Bekka: So did they kill more than one baby?
Shaun: Oh, yeah.
Bekka: So what's the story? Tell me the story.
5haun: Oh they killed, they killed hundreds of babies. It was, what they'd do was, they had the babies,
it was like a nursery. And then just one day all of a sudden ... I think they only killed like eleven or
twelve. Yeah, I think that's right, I got from it (from the paper - 8ekka). And they just threw them
right into the, Into the pool.
Bekka: Weird.
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-Kaye's Cross· is a legend from the Kayesville area. The legend itself has elements of insanity
as well as that of violent death. Stefanle's story is very prominent in the aspect of conquering fear and
of proving herself to her friends. The entire legend-trip occurred because Stefanis didn't believe that
the cross was there, and her friends wanted to prove it 10 her. In this story, nothing supernatural
happens, but Stefanie does see the cross and that is enough to frighten her.
Legend-Tripping
-Kaye's Cross·
Stefanie Bjerregaard
July 23. 1991
Contextual Data: I told Stefanie and Jennifer about having to do a paper for my folklore class, and
asked them If they had any stories. This is one that Stefanis told that happened when she was in high
school.
Stefanie: Have you ever heard of Kaye's Cross?
Bekka: Un-un (no).
Stefanie: tt's, this one kind of freaked me out. tt's, the legend is there that a man who, it was like way
before Kayesville was Kayesville, but it was in that area, lived there in his little log cabin with his
wife and I don't know how many kids, three or four, I think. And, um, kind of like, it was kind of like
7he Shinning,- you know how he was like totally isolated and all alone and went crazy? That's what
this Is. This man was like, all alone, really isolated, they were like miles and miles from anything, and
he just went crazy one day.
Bekka: Hmmm.
Stefanie: And killed his wife and his kids, I can't remember how many he had. Anyway, killed his wife
and his kids, and there's this big gross story of how he killed them, too, but I can't remember that.
Anyway, he killed them, and then he, they lived like in a log cabin. Then he took all of the logs from the
cabin and built a huge cross ...
Bekka: Um-hum (yes),
Stefanie: ... and, ifs said that he buried them in there, like this two parts of the cross that come out,
he put like one baby here, one here, stood his wife up center in the cross ...
Jennifer: 0000.
Stefanie: ... and then, I think there was three kids, and then put another one on top. Anyway, all of
them were in this cross. And he like built the front of it, put the people in, and then finished it off with
the wood from the house. And there it's, they say ifs still standing. I didn't believe ii, you know, -no
it's not, no ifs not- and they're like -Ifs huge, it's like six feet tall and six feet wide, it's In this huge
cross" And I'm like -there is no cross stuck in the middle of Kayesville. That is just stupid.. I didn't
believe it, 'cause I don't really believe things like that.
Bekka: No, thafs how, kind of, I feel.
Stefanie: So, this group of people, you know, decided they were going to prove me wrong, took me up
there, and they're like ... Well, it was kind of an old boy ... Well, it's an old boyfriend now, kind of an on­off
boyfriend all through high school, and we were always fighting, and we fought about it one night. So
he's like ·come on, we're going, I'm going to prove you wrong right now" So ...
Bekka: What was the group like?
Stefanle: Well, it was me and him, and then like five of his friends and five of my friends. I mean we
went like in a huge group. See, I like when I'm like in a huge group I don't get scared that easy. It's like
when I'm all by myself, you know. So we go ...
Bekka: Always have another person or something. Yeah.
Stefanie: Yeah. So we go driving up there, you have to drive through a neighborhood, park in the
neighborhood and then like walk back through this field and it's like you're supposed to go really late at
\ ~
night, so it's totally dark. You can't see a thing, you're just walking through this field, and, we get
( down there. And the whole way, one of our friend's like saying ·oh, goll, I hear devil worshipers are
up here. And I hear .... like he expects us, they're just trying to scare me, and I'm like ·oh, yeah, cool,
cool, - you know, and walk down this big hill, and then, it's like a really steep hill, It's sort of like real,
it was real dark so I'm concentrating on gening down the hill without falling. Get to the bonom, look up
and you see just like this little glowing, like right around in the ground, but thars all you can see. And,
I stood there for a minute, and he's like -now do you believe me?- and I go -what? Someone's standing
there with a flashlightr And he goes -no, just walk closer. - And I'm like "there is nothing. Cory, or
Chad or one of your friends is probably standing there trying to scare me,· you know. And he's like
·come on, !ers see if maybe they're over there. - So, I started walking closer and closer and I grabbed
one of my friends 'cause I didn't dare go alone. So, we get a little closer and then you can see that
there's no light in the ground, but this big huge cross is still standing there. And it is huge, it's like, it
is about six feet tall, and it's like thaI thick, (about a foot - Bekka) like in width-wise in, you know, all
the way around, it is huge. And it looks old, really old, old, old. It is weird.
(
Jennifer: I want to see it.
Bekka: Yeah, no doubt.
Stefanle: And It's just, it looks like the bonom of il just kind of glows, there was like, well I don't
know if there has, I'm sure no one would go put a light bulb in the ground. I didn't get close enough to
see, 'cause then I did get scared. And then we stood there for a minute, and then all of them took off
running, I think, I don't know if the heard something or if they were doing that to scare me even more,
then I turned around, ran up the hill, and then turned back around and you could still see like the light
and then once I knew what I was looking for. You could see just like the base of the cross, but you
couldn't see the whole Ihing until you got like way down to it. Then we walked off and that was It, I
mean, no one like saw any spirits or heard anything, but the huge cross is there and that's the story
that goes with it.
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-Emu's Grave- is just one of the many limes I went legend-tripping without really knowing the
legend. All I and my friends knew was that a ghost was supposed to come out of the grave, and we
wanted to see it happen. This story has illegal aspects, since we were trespassing in the Sail lake City
Cemetery at two In the morning. It definitely has the boredom element, since we did it after dancing
one night when nobody wanted to go home. Nothing supernatural happened, but we did get a good scare,
and I, at least. don't go into the Salt Lake City Cemetery at night anymore.
Legend·Tripping Story
-Emu's Gravew
Bekka Hanson
July 23, 1991
Contextual Data: Stefan ie, Jennifer, and I were talking about ghost stories and they had never heard
my experience with Emu's grave.
Bakka: All, right, we went up to go see Emu's grave, and it was me and Shaun (Hulse) and Scott
Mower, and Kitchell was with us ....
Stefanie: Is that the one you drive you drive around three times, you drive around in a circle three
times and the head will watch you?
Bekka: Oh, see I don't know. We never knew any of the legends. We're just stupid. We're like driving
down State Street one night like at two in the morning after we had been dancing ...
Stefanie: Un·hun (yes).
Bekka: None of us wanted to go home, we're all, like, bored. ·Hey, let's go check out Emu's Grave ..
And I'm like "well, what's that.·
Stefanie: Well, I don't know what it's called.
Bekka: But this ghost is supposed to come out of the grave. And we're like ·oh, o.k.· so we just drove
up.
Stefanie: Oh.
Bekka: But, we never knew what the story was.
Stefanie: O.k., that's a different one, then. O.k.
Bekka: There's one up In the Roy Cemetery then, you drive around it three times, or something?
Stefanie: No, I think mine's in Ogden. Now that I think about it, but I do.
Bekka: O.k. But, anyway, um .. so it's up there by the crematorium, so it's kind of in that old section
that's kind of in the back. I can't ever find the crematorium when I go up to drive around there.
Stefanie: Um·hum (yes).
Bekka: But, it's kind of in the back, and we're driving around and we got right by the crematorium and
we're looking for it, and we're all, we're all like kind of scared. I don't want to get out of the car. Me
and Kitchell are kind of going ·ahh .... and Scon and Shaun are like ·ah, you guys are wusses,· and
Shaun stops the car, starts opening the door, and I saw someone like running out from behind the
crematorium, and I'm like ·Shaun, somebody's here.· He's like ·yeah, right, that's your imagination.­And
I'm like ·no, Shaun, somebody's here,· and Kitchell's like ·check it out!· And all these people
started running from behind the crematorium, and they're all up in hoods and robes, black robes and
stuff, and they had like sticks and bats and shit, and Shaun was like almost all the way out of the car,
and he saw them and he jumped back in the car and shut the door and locked it, and they all came
running around the car.
Stefanie: Un·un (no).
Bekka: They're like banging on the car and shit. Shaun hurries and turns on the engine and we just
peeled out of there. They like busted his taillight and shit.
(
(
Stefanis: You are kidding.
Bekka: 0h, my god, I'm sure they were devil worshipers. I have never been so scared in my Ufe.
Stsfanis: Oh, yeah.
Bekka: 'Cause what else would they be doing up there?
Stefanle: They're in like black robes, like all the way to the ground robes?
Bekka: Um-hum (yes). like those long robes with the long sleeves and the big hoods. Urn, and they
were all in black.
Stefanie: Weird.
Bekka: It was just freaky. So, I'm sure we interrupted some devil service that was going on up there.
Stefanie: Un-hun (yes). Oh, that's sick.
Bekka: But, I've never gone up to find Emu's grave since.
Stefanie: Now, what is supposed to happen, in thai one?
Bekka: Urn, there's supposed like, they told us the legend up in my folklore class, and Emu was either a
black guy or a Catholic or something non-Mormon.
Stefanie: Un-hun (yes).
Bekka: And was treated really bad by the Mormons, which was like clear back in the 1800s, and, it
was basically a Mormon town ...
Stefanie: Yeah.
Bekka: .. ,and everything, and, um, was persecuted really badly or something and he was the first guy
cremated up there. Urn, 'cause you know how the Mormons don't believe in cremation and all that?
Stefanie: Yeah,
8ekka: And, urn, he made a pledge. He said -I'm going to come back and get revenge on all you guys.­Stefanie:
Oh, just because he was non-Mormon ...
Bekka: And he got persecuted from that, I guess he was really ostracized from them so ....
Stefanie: And why'd he get persecuted?
8ekka: I don't know. He was either Catholic or black or something like that.
Stefanie: And just for that one reason?
Bekka: Yeah.
Stefanie: He didn't commit a crime?
Bekka: I don't think so. I don't know, he might have. I don't know.
Stefanie: Oh. And so he was just going to come back and get revenge, that's what it...
Bekka: Yeah, and at certain times his ghost's supposed to come out of the grave.
Stefanie: Do you like, are you supposed to do something or say something with this?
Bekka: See, I don't know. Probably.
1..\
(
(
-Hobitland or Allan Park- was an adventure in proving ourselves that a girlfriend and I failed.
We refused 10 get out of the car. This occurred as the completion of a double..cate. Our dates lived up
around that area and wanted to scare us. Nothing even vaguely supernatural happened. This was also
an illegal trip, because Allan Park is a residential, p4'ivate community place.
legend-Tripping Story
-Hobitland or Allen Park-
Bekka Hanson
July 15, 1991
Contextual Data: I told Julie this story the same afternoon when we were just slHing around telling
ghost stories.
Bekka: We've done so many stupid things, though, like when we went through Allen Park - Hobitiand -
and we wouldn't get out of the car. It's like right across the street from Westminster, and I guess it
was like a big drug thing in the 'SOs, but somebody, there's IiHIe houses in there, there's all these little
houses, and they all have like sayings on them: ·repent for the hour of God is at hand"
Julie: Your kidding I
Bekka: I have no clue what the signifICance of it is. But Allen Park is kind of like, 'cause, o.k., you
know along 13th (east) how you can drive, and there's those roads that kind of go off in the middle of
the block? It's one of those. And then you go up in there and you go up the driveway and there's all
those little houses and there's a big courtyard in the middle with a big old fountain and then there's just
lots of apartment buildings and shit, and they're like really cheep housing for the students and that.
There's been a couple of real major drug busts up there, in Alien Park.
Julie: Wowl
Bekka: But it has a, back up through that block, you can go up there. It winds around for quite a ways,
and then I think it comes out at one of those parks up there. But it's like really a long little drive and it
just kind of winds around in those blocks up there.
Julie: Wow.
Bekka: We got to the courtyard and we made them tum around and go back 'cause we were like
freaking out. We wouldn't even get out of the car. 'Cause Allen Park's kind of creepy 'cause people
really live in there. It's kind of different, I mean, the Flintstone Park's scary but those people never
come out of their house and come yell at you or anything. When you're up there and irs all those really
old apartment buildings, there all kind of broken down anyway, and so we all kind of freaked out....
Julie: Geel
Bekka: ... .'cause people really live in there and there's cars coming in and out of there all the time, so I
don't want to be walking around in there ...
Julie: That's kind of freaky.
Bekka: ... because irs freaky, number one, and you don't know who lives in there, number two. And
I'm sure it's fairly harmless, 'cause it's just kind of like a student....
Julie: But you don't know.
Bekka: But you don't know, you know?
1:1.
(
(
"The Ogden Cemetery Statue- could be compared to "'The logan Cemetery Weeping Woman- In
( that, If the right conditions are present, the statue will do some kind of activity. In this case, the
statue watches the legend-trippers. The social element is strong in this story, as Is the boredom
element Stefanle Is undecided as to whether this story had an actual supernatural event occur, or If 11
was due to natural causes.
(
legend-Tripping Story
"The Ogden Cemetery Statue-
Stefanle BJerregaard
July 23, 1991
Contex1ual Information: Stefan ie, Jennifer and I were telling ghost stories one night.
Stefanie: Well, mine aren't ghost stories. One of them Is Just a legend that, It's somewhere in Ogden.
Bekka: Um-hmm (yes).
Stefanle: I don't know if there's more than one cemetery In Ogden, I don't know. And anyway ...
Bekka: Well, where are you from?
Stefanie: Roy.
Bekka: Roy.
Stefanle: Yeah.
Bekka: O.k. I knew you were from down there somewhere, I Just couldn't remember where.
Stefanie: So, Irs up there somewhere, II's in the Ogden cemetery. I know irs like ... Do you know
where anything is in Ogden?
Bekka: Un-un (no).
Stefanle: Well...
Bekka: A few things, I know where Harrison Boulevard Is and Washington ..
Stefanie: O.k., you're on Harrison, and you go north all the way to the top, top, top, and then, um, o.k.,
then you can't go anymore. I think on Harrison you have to tum up and you get on Washington and you
see that big -Ogden- sign that goes across the road?
Bekka: Yeah.
Stefanie: O.k., right, there's like a right-hand turn-off, like right as you go underneath that. And then
you get there and there's a little thing called the fag lane or something like that. Have you heard of
that?
Bekka: Un-un (no).
Stefan Ie: It's weird. And then you drive down ...
Bekka: Is that where the homosexuals hang out or something?
Stefanie: Well, irs supposed to be that if you drive down it, you're supposed to drive down it once
with your lights on, and then, stop at the end, tum your lights off, turn them back on, and if someone
else flashes their lights at you it means they're interested and then you meet and see if you're the same
sex and if you are ... Anyhow, that's not a ghost story, so that won't fit in there.
Bekka: Oh, my gosh.
Stefanle: Anyway, back at the (Something) it's like a really old cemetery, reaJly rickety, and anyway,
it has this big statue of a man on a horse, like rearing back, standing In the middle of the cemetery.
And I don't know if irs like a monument for someone, or if it's Just a statue put there, but the legend
Is ... And II's like a road all around it And the legend Is ....
Bekka: like your car go a courtyard or something?
Stefanle: Yeah. Yeah. And if you, they say if you drive around II...S88 you're supposed to park, like, I
can't remember, It's either behind the horse or directly in front of the horse, I can't remember. it's
been a long time. But anyway, park right there, do something, and then after that start driving around
( three times, and like the man is ... I think it's behind the horse, 'cause the man is like tuming his head
over his shoulder. look straight into the statue's eyes, drive around three times, and the whole time
keep looking at this man's eyes, and after the third time, his head will start to follow you and jf it's, I
don't know, a full moon or something, the horse will put jrs front hooves down, and ...
(
Bekka: Whoa.
Stefanie: I think irs just after you drive around three times, you're dizzy, so anything looks like it's
following you, but, urn, my personal thing, every time we went up there to do it, and he always looked
like he was following me, but after three times, I get dizzy really easy. So. after three times, I was
always dizzy, and It, everything looked like it was following me. But my friends swore that they don't
get dizzy and that it was really following.
Bekka: Um-humm (yes).
Stefanie: And something about if the moon's right, the horse'll put it's hooves down and rear up
backwards or something, anyway, I never saw it happen, but thars the legend. So ...
Bekka: How many times did you guys go and do this?
Stefanie: Uke every Friday that we were bored.
"The Devil House- is a Utah county story that involves a supposedly haunted house. This story
( also has the element of a statue momentarily coming to life, if the conditions are right. Julie believes
the supernatural aspect Is the fact that they could not find the house, even when they wrote the
address down. It was always luck that they found it. This aspect is sometimes associated with a
legend·trip, as it was in Shaun's accounl of -S1. Ann's Retreat.-
(
Legend·Tripping Story
"The Devil House-
Julie Johnson
Logan, Utah
July 15, 1991
Contextual Data: At Irving and Joe's apartment, telling ghost stories. Besides Irving and Joe, Bill,
Julie and I were also there.
Julie: There's this house in Provo, and it's white, and everyone, everybody would call It the Devil
House, 'cause on the outside of that, underneath the eaves there's a sculpture of a man's face, you
know his head like gargoyle and stuff, but there was just one face.
Bekka: Uh·uh (yes).
Julie: And supposedly if you went there like at midnight or whatever, irs always midnight or a full
moon ...
Bekka: Yeah.
Julie: ... you can see his eyes glowing red.
Bekl<a: 000.
Julie: We never could. We always called it gho ... Devil House, though. And Lisa's sister moved in there
after she got married. It wasn't haunted, it was supposed to be haunted, too, but she said that they
never found anything weird.
Bekka: Hmm. Thars interesting how those things get around.
Julie: That was a cool thing, but we could never find the house, we'd always have to, always have to
remem ... memorize the address, and then when it was ... we could never remember il when we went
back.
Bekka: Um·hm (yes).
Julie: And we would like write it down, and then it was always like the wrong address. We could
never remember where it was, we always just happened 10 come upon it. I thought that was really
creepy.
(
(
-Gilgal or the Flintstone Park- is one of the most interesting places I've ever been to. It's a
whole little park crammed full of statuary, which we describe in some detail. This park is on private
property in the middle of a block in downtown Salt Lake, so the trespassing Issue does come into play.
This legend-trip is interesting because nothing supernatural is supposed to happen. Irs just a weird
place that I believed was demonic and Julie had heard ·you're supposed to feel all creepy,- There's no
ghosts or statues that come to life, but It's possibly some of the most interesting legend-trips I've ever
been on. The aspect of conquering fear and proving of one's self is a strong part of this legend-trip.
I went back to the Flintstone Park at the first part of August, and it's just as weird in the
daylight. I took my mother, who likes this kind of thing, and she is well versed in Mormonism. She
knew what everything was supposed to be. We ran into some people who were taking care of the trees
and grass In the park, and they told us where the owners lived. We went to their house and got the
pamphlet that Is enclosed in this paper. It destroyed a lot of what I had believed about the park, and I
really liked my version better.
What's funny about mine and Julie's conversation is that we're so wrong about most of the
park. I'm wrong more than Julie is. We're also talking about completely different houses that you
trespass through to get to the park. Mine Is on the east side of the house, and her's is on the south.
legend-Tripping Story
-Gilgal or the Flintstone Park-
Julie Johnson
Bekka Hanson
July 15, 1991
Contextual Data: It's the same afternoon when we told the other ghost stories. This started out as
Julie's story and kind of merged into mine. It's pretty much just a conversation about Gilgal.
Bekka: Tell me what happened when you went to Gilgal.
Julie: We just went
Bekka: Who'd you go with?
Julie: It was on a double date with these guys.
Bekka: You were?
Julie: Yeah, it was over Christmas. They weren't even like friends of mine, really, and this, yeah,
after we went to Cafe Pierpont I ~ust said -well, let's go,· and one of the other guys knew where it was
too, which I think, I hate that, because everyone knows about it now. It's like the thing to go, and you
can't go, you can't go when your not alone. There's always somebody there, and you have to sneak,
you have to know where you're going ....
Bekka: 'Cause I didn't realize it was that big anymore, 'cause when we went it was like when I was in
high school. I'd never heard of it and we would go and there'd never be anybody there. We'd go
Saturday nights and stuff and nobody would ever be there.
Julie; 'cause every time I'Ve been there's been people there, every time. It's just a weird place.
Bekka: What did you think about it? Describe it. Tell me some things in it
Julie: Well, I remember, there's like, the guy was supposedly a Mormon, and a Mason or something,
so he had a lot of, like, symbolism, like he has that big stack of books, like the four standard works,
they're huge.
( Bekka: Thafs right, I forgot about that one.
(
Julie: That's huge, and then he has like that birdhouse, that realty, it's up high and irs supposed 10 be
like the Brigham Young's house and all his wives. There's like a lot of symbolism like that, the guy who
we went with was telling us, and there's like that big mount, that's supposed to be, like ....
Bekka: The beehive or whatever that is?
Julie: No, he told me it was like supposed to be like the, some Book of Mormon place, (I'm) not sure,
'cause then on the other side they have like that giant face, and the giant foot, like when they were
conquered by some giants or something.
Bekka: Uumm.
Julie: I don't know. (cut) And there's a big Joseph Smith sphinx head.
Bekka: Cause that's what I remember, and I remember the Brigham Young statue, too.
Julie: Then there's a statue of him in his little plaid brick pl'int pants, and there's a picture of, like the
head of his wife, and then there's -
Bekka: I heard that his wife was buried In there under the sphinx statue ....
Julie: Ugggi
Bekka: ... which they used to do back in the pioneer days, so that isn't that weird for back then, but it's
kind of creepy to think thaI....
Julie: Then there's like that little oven thing, like that shows .... then the pitchfork and stuff, that
shows the pioneer work. What else? Then there's like a, well, all those rocks have those scriptures
etched in all of them, and then, on one part it like describes GilgaJ, 'cause I didn't know what it was, it's
like ....
Bekka: 'Cause I don't know what Gilgal is.
Julie: U's like a sacrificial, somewhere in the Bible it was like a sacrificial place, like MI. Sinea or
something, GilgaJ was a place like that. It's a Biblical place.
Bekka: 'Cause what we heard about it was that it was all twisted and demonic, because aJl the
scriptures are kind of twisted.
Julie: Are they?
Bekka: Yeah, and like Brigham Young is facing the wrong direction when he's reaching out for -this Is
the place,· and everything Is supposed to be twisted.
Julie: Really?
Bekka: It's all Mormonism, but it's all supposed to be twisted.
Julie: Could be, could be.
Bekka: And if Gilgal's the sacrificial place, 'cause seriously, you read those scriptures and some of
them are really well known. he's like worded them differently. I mean, they say ....
Julie: I guess I never really noticed that, 'cause we went in the snow and we really couldn't, I mean,
we saw that there were scriptures.
Bekl<a: Yeah.
Julie: Huh. There's a couple of other places, too, that, or other spots that I can't remember what they
were, but I they were supposed to be like indicative of some Bible story, or something. It's supposed to
be all symbolic.
Bekka: It's been so long that I can't remember half the stuff that's in there.
Julie: It's not all that big.
Bekl<a: It's fun to go with someone who knows it all, too, because ....
Julie: Well, this guy could have been all full of shit, too, but he seemed, I mean, It seemed to fit.
Bekl<a: I don't know, cause I've heard pretty much the same thing, too. And see, that birdhouse,
Brigham Young's house, that's supposed to mean something.
Julie: Is it like demonic? Oh really?
Bekka: Yeah.
Julie: That's kind of creepy.
Bekka: That bird house is supposed to mean something, I'm not sure what, but the whole thing is
supposed to be twisted Mormonism.
Julie: Then there's like that big thank you, there's a big slab that he gives all his thanks to, like a
whole list of people, 'cause it seems like, I heard that when you go there you're supposed to feel all
(
(
creepy, and like there's so much evil stuff there, and you usually ...
Bekka: W. did, but we went in the middle of the night.
Julie: Oh, I didn't at all. We were there at midnight, too, and it was like, I was like, Whooo!. this is
reaUy cool. I felt really calm.
8ekka: Hmm.
Julie: So I didn't feel bad vibes at all, except you have to trespass to get past. I always feel bad about
doing that. •.•
Bekka: Me too.
Julie:
Bekka:
.... .'cause I don't want 10 get in trouble ....
Me too.
Julie: .... and piss off the people who own it. My dad wants 10 go; he thinks that's really interesting.
Bekka: My mom wants to go, too. That's cool if you can go in the daytime and just check it out.
Julie: I think you can. Maybe that sign's really old 'cause it's like inside ...
Bekka: Do you guys go behind the house to get in ...
Julie: Uh-uh (yes).
Bekka: ... or Is there another way through the block to get in?
Julie: I don't know, 'cause we went through the house.
Bekka: 'Cause last time we went in we went right behind those poor people's ...
Julie: And always their lights on. That is a creepy house, it's like ..
Bekka: That Is a creepy house.
Julie: Always there's always lights on.
Bekka: It's so run down and everything, too.
Julie: Thafs a creepy house.
Bekka: When we went there, they had these big black dogs out back, too ...
Julie: 00001
Bekka: Oool! Beasts of the Devil, Beasts of Satan.
Julie: Cool!
Bekka: We'd say all these things and get all in the mood to be all freaked out.
Julie: And then there's that little grove thing, like the sacred grove right when you first walk in, by
the swing set, that like leads to the garden.
Bekka: That's right, I forgot that one, too. It's pretty big, man, it takes up quite a bit of that inner
block.
JUlie: Yeah, it does, it does.
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@ atllST
o NATURE - Represented ~ the rock cave
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WID RE'AOO ME IN ASHFS
IS MY SON IN WISHFS.
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Real Ghosts Stories
These are stories which mayor may not be about actual ghosts. In the three samples I have
here, none of the people believed in ghosts until the strange things began to occur. Irving's story could
have some logical explanations, but Shaun's and especially Jennifer's defy any kind of natural causal
explanation. The Interesting thing about .Jennifer's story is how completely she believes It, and yet
how at the same time she doesn't want anyone 10 know about it She is afraid people will think she's a
crackpot.
It is also interesting that all of these people have a college education. They are not Illiterate
and uneducated. This goes along with what Dr. David Hufford found in his study of the old hag
experience in that, oftentimes, education has nothing 10 do with belief In the supematuraL Many highly
educated and experienced people believe in ghosts. Or. Hufford told of a lawyer who was having regular
old hag experiences. He wrote to Dr. Hufford after reading his book "The Terror that Comes In the
Night- to tell him that he agreed with Dr. Hufford in that this experience was due to sleep paralysis. He
went on 10 say that he now understood that sleep paralysis made it possible for the demons to get at
him.
In -Shelly's Ghost; I think you'll understand why this person chose to be known as Irving Berlin
Jones. Culturally, I think this is a fascinating story. It fits so completely with the drug scene. You
( often hear stories of poltergeists and how they move things and hide things, but this Is the first
poltergeist I've ever heard of that leaves gifts.
Real Ghosts Stories
-Shelly's Ghost-
Irving Berlin Jones
July 15, 1991
Contextual Data: This story was told the same afternoon as Joe's Eric Claplon story. Julie and Bill
were there as well as myself.
Irving: How bout the ghost who \eaves half sheet of acid and bags of pot just lying around the
apartment?
Bekka: This is great. This is good, tell us this story. Tell me your name.
Joe: My name Is Engelbert Humperdink.
Irving: I don't think I want my name associated with this story. (cut) It all started, they found this
half sheet of acid In their freezer. And they were like, -Hmm. Did you leave this here?- -No:
Bekka: Who's they?
Irving: Umm, John ...
Joe: Frank and Bob.
Irving: John and Bob. And John said -did you leave this in the freezer, Frank?- and Frank said -no, I
didn't.-
Bill: Who's Frank?
Irving: -Did you leave it, John?- and John said -oh. that's not mine. - And so they were asking their
friends and their friends, none of them had stashed it there. And it was a kind that nobody had seen
before. So they tried it, and It was just really good, so they were stuck with a half-sheet of really
good acid. And they said ...
Joe: Stuck with.
( Irving: And they said they kept finding like little bags of pot just around, too, which maybe like they
left themselves from smoking so much. The sheet was pan of the adventure.
(
Julie: Edit that pan out, Bek, they didn't leave It, no.
Irving: O.k., the ghost left that, well they said the ghost left It. They couldn't remember Mtaving It and
it would be In weird places, too, like, weird places In the fridge and stuff.
Joe: The ghost that leaves the pot. I never can get a lease (something). Well, hey, here's a half a kil
of coke. wheewll
Irving: And then Da .. um, Larry had a brush with the Incident Just when we were up visiting him. He
was home doing some taping, like dubbing fIVe or six tapes he'd borrowed from friends, and he said he'd
get up and like go find a pencil to write down the songs and come back and the tape cover would be gone,
and he'd look for the tape cover and find it like in the bathroom or in the kitchen, or someplace like not
right around the stereo which is where everything was. And he found one of the tapes under his
mattress, like his mattress was on the floor, so it's not like really weird, like stuck in between the
mattress and his bed, but just on the floor under the mattress. And just weird things like that. And
they claim Ifs Shelly's ghost.
Bekka: Who's Shelly?
Irving: The girl that used to live there before them.
Bekka: What happened to her? Why'd she die?
Irving: She moved to Portland.
Julie: Oh, she moved to Ponland.
Bekka: So she's not dead?
Irving: Well, I've. she's actually a good ghost. She's a good person. too. I've met her, she·s ....
(cut)
Irving: The only tricks she plays are usually not malicious. but it's just stuff like hiding pencils or
books or .••. stuff.
Bill: like bestowing gifts.
Irving: Or leaving gifts.
(
(
·Shane's Ghosr is a rather disturbing story of a violent ghost attack. This happened to Shaun's
twin brother, Shane, while he was staying in California. Shane's first explanation was that it was the
black dude who was out to get him, but it soon became evident that this explanation could nol be
correc1.
Real Ghosts Stories
·Shane's Ghost-
Shaun Federico
July 25, 1991
Contextual Data: I talked to my friends at work about ghost stories. Shaun had several that he wanted
to share. This one is about his twin brother.
Shaun: I've got one about my brother.
Bekka: Kay, tell me the one about your brother.
Shaun: Kay, he moved ...
Bekka: These are great. I love it
Shaun: ... to California, and at the time he was going out with this, with this girl that this black dude, he
liked her. too. And he said. you came ... He threatened him several times when he went like to the
burger bar.
Bekka: Un-hun (yes).
Shaun: In California. And he threatened him several times that he was going to kill him. And Shane
says, ·un-un (no), no you're not,· and, um, so, as he went home that night, he went to sleep. And he,
he didn't get drunk, and he went to sleep, passed out and went to sleep, and then he, all of a sudden,
somebody lifted him up out of his bed, threw him against the wall and said ·oh, crap'· He got his knife,
and he thought, he thought it was the black dude that threatened him, went into his house. And he
started to go like this and duck and there was nobody there. And he was lifted right off the ground.
Bekka: Oh, my gosh. Did he ever see anybody or ... ?
Shaun: Nope. It was he, he just stood there for five minutes off the ground and he Just looked and
(knock, knock) trying to feel the floor. He said that it was the most weirdest feeling that's ever felt.
Bekka: Oh, my gosh.
Shaun: It's freaky.
Bekka: Gee. Thafs pretty good. And did it ever come back?
Shaun: Um-um (no). But the next day he packed his bags and left California. Went home.
(
(
-AUysa- is the most bizarre ghost story I was told during my little research project Into the
supernatural. As in Shaun's story, there is no legend to go along with the events. Jennifer has said
that she would like to go to the county records and see if she could find out what happened, if anything,
on her father's property.
I know Jennifer pretty well, and she's a down-la-earth, very logical person. These events
have bothered her and have frightened her because she has no rational explanation for them. This story
is also un-nerving because the ghost seems to be fair1y hostile. Irs interesting the way Jennifer tells
these stories. She puts forth her argument in a logical and rational way. and tries to explain events
that have nothing 10 do with rationality. I honestly don't know how some of these events could have
occurred unless there is an actual ghost living in her father's house. The events also occur fairly
regularly. Almost every time Jennifer comes back to logan, she has a new story about Allysa.
Real Ghost Stories
-Allysa-
Jennifer Harding
July 23, 1991
Contextual Data: This is the same night that Stefanie told me Kaye's Cross and the Ogden Cemetery
Statue stories. Jennifer had no desire whatsoever to be taped, and I wanted to respect her wishes.
The following is my own paraphrasing.
Jennifer started by saying that there was a ghost in her father's house. He goes on business
trips a lot, and is very careful to lock the doors and turn off all the lights. Many times when he comes
home from his trips, however, the garage door and house doors will be wide open, and all the lights In
the house will be on. Jennifer emphasized the fact that nothing was ever missing in the house, and such
events could not be due to burglary or other similar incidents. Jennifer herself has heard the ghost on
many different occasions. When she stays with her lather, she uses an upstairs bedroom that is by the
stairs. She has often heard footsteps running up the stairs and to the end of the hall, and then back
again. When she goes out to investigate, no one is ever there. She confessed that it makes her very
nervous sometimes, since her father's room Is downstairs and on the opposite side of the house.
Jennifer told us that her niece, whose nickname is Budd, actually saw the ghost when she was
younger. Jennifer said that Budd Is a precocious child and began speaking at a very young age. She told
Jennifer that there was a girl living in the house by the name of Allysa, and that she was about ten
years old. Budd described her as having long brown hair and red eyes, and that she wore funny, old
fashioned clothes. She claimed that Allysa had a favorite toy, which belonged to Jennifer. It was a
stuffed elephant. Budd claimed many times that she played with Allysa. One afternoon, however, when
Budd was about three, Jennifer found her crying in the living room. Budd said that Allysa was very
mad at her and wanted to hurt her. Jennifer tried to comfort her by telling her Allysa did not exist.
Budd then said that Allysa was on the stairs at that very moment and was watching them. Jennifer
picked up Budd and walked towards the stairs. Budd became extremely upset, and kept repeating that
Allysa wanted to hurt her. Jennifer told me that at about age five, Budd didn't see Allysa any more,
and Budd is no longer scared of the ghost.
Jennifer told me of another time about a year ago when Allysa was fairly hostile. She had
invited several friends over to the house and they were watching videos and eating pizza. One of the
boys went downstairs to build a fire. Jennifer said he screamed and came running back up the stairs.
He had a big gash over his eye that was bleeding badly. He said that as he was laying the logs in the
fireplace, something picked one of them up and hurled it at him. The log hit his forehead. Jennifer and
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her friends took him In for stitches. None of her friends at that party knew about the ghost.
The last incident Jennifer told me about occurred around her father's birthday. They had gotten
about twenty helium balloons and had put them in the living room. The went Into the kitchen for a while
and when they came back all the balloons were missing. They turned up all in her father's bedroom,
which is down the hall and at a 90 degree turn from the living room. They gathered up the balloons and
took them back to the living room. Jennifer explained that in her father's living room, the ceiling Is
made of oak beams which hang down into the room. The ceiling is nol a flat surface. All three adults
watched the balloons move, one by one, down around the beams, down the hall, make the 90 degree
turn, and end up back in her father's room. She said this happened twice more, and then they decided to
leave the balloons in her father's room. Jennifer also explained that none of the windows were open,
and that her father has a circulatory heating so there are no vents In the house. There were no drafts
to push the balloons along, and even if there were, they would not have been able to go around the
beams.
I asked Jennifer who she thought Allysa was, and she said that there used to be an old log cabin
that adjoined her father's property. It was torn down when her father built his house. Jennifer says
that between where the old cabin used to be and her father's house there is a mound in the lawn that
Jennifer thinks is the right size to be a small grave. She's tried to get her father to dig It up several
times, but he doesn't think that's a very good idea.
Jennifer thinks her father is frightened of the ghost, but will not admit it. He will not speak of
the ghost to anyone outside of their immediate family, and he forbids any of his children to mention it.
Jennifer says he does that because he doesn't think anyone would believe such a story and he doesn't
want to look ridiculous. Jennifer has many of the same feelings herself.
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Stories of the Devil
Every one of the legend-tripping stories in this paper, with the exception of -The Ogden
Cemetery Statue- and '"The Devil House,· also has a devil worshiping story that goes along with h.
This is a really disturbing trend to me. My story of -Emu's Grave- deals almost exclusively with the
fact that my friends and I got chased by what we believe were devit worshipers. I believe that is the
reason why most of the Utah cemeteries are closed after a certain hour at night 11 seems to be a trend
that gets bigger and bigger every year.
Julie had so many of these stories that I could have done a paper entirely on her. She suggested
I title it • Julie Johnson's Bedtime Stories.· Perhaps it's because she comes from Utah county which is
notorious for all the devil cults that supposedly exist there. This is a really Interesting fact since Utah
county is also supposed be the holiest county in Utah as far as the LOS church is concerned.
Julie was not the only one with devil worshiping stories, however. Jennifer knew quite a bit
about Jay's Joumal. Stefanie said that Kaye's Cross is a place where the devil cults meet. Both of
Shaun's legend-tripping stories ended with accounts of devil worship. I myself have a few stories of
this genre.
I don't know why this is becoming the trend in supematural stories. I don't remember ever
telling them when I was younger. I remember starting to hear about the devil cults when I was in high
school, but I'm sure they've been around much longer. I do believe in the devil worshiping cults, but I'm
not sure that all the stories that are told can be accredited to them. If that were the case, either every
other person would have to be a devil worshiper, or they get around a lot
I included this story of Julie's, first of all, because she had so many of them, and secondly,
because I wanted to include an example of this in my paper. h is a fairly typical version of a devil
worshiping story. They usually include contact with demons of some kind, violent acts such as
sacrifices and extreme vandalism, intense secrecy surrounding the cult itself. This secrecy extends to
the point of killing members who want to get away from these practices.
In this version, it's interesting thai Julie says the punk kids go out there all the time. Punk kids
aren't necessarily devil worshipers, but in this story it seems that they are.
Stories of the Devil
-Jay's Journal-
Julie Johnson
July 15, 1991
Contextual Information: This was a banner afternoon for ghost stories. Julie and I were just sitting
around swapping stories.
Julie: Well, I know that out in Pleasant Grove, that Jay's Journal book .. ..
Bekka: Un-hun (yes).
Julie: It's based on, was that journal of the guy thai went devil worshiping.
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Bekka: Oh, tell me Jay's Journal. Did you guys go out there and like, see it?
JUlie: Oh, yeah.
Bekka: O.k., tell me this story.
Julie: Well, have you read the book?
Bekka: Un-un (no).
Julie: Well, let me tell you, it goes ....
Bekka: Kay. lell me about Jay's Journal.
Julie: Well it's just about a young teenaged boy. it's about a teen-aged boy who got into devil
worshiping and the journal, he got in deeper and deeper and deeper and he couldn't get out. He tried to
get out and just couldn't ...
Bekka: And he just kept a journal about it?
Julie: Un-hun (yes), and he ended up killing himself, and a friend of mine - I met this guy down in Cedar
City at school, and he was his nephew, of Jay and the grandma still has the gun he shot himself with,
and they still like relive it, like ...
Bekka: How old was he, then?
Julie: He was just a teenager.
Bekka: Well, I mean like generation wise.
Julie: I think It was back in the sixties, I think. It wasn't very long ago, anyway. It was just really
sad. And then his grave it was - I don't know if Pleasant Grove is one of the ones like Provo that has
the ones, all the stand up ones - I don't know if it was unusual if his was a stand up one or not, but, it
was Just a slab, a stand up slab that had a poem on it that said basically -don't do what I did, I fucked up
really bad, - kind of thing. It's a beautiful poem. And then it had his picture of him, creepy as hell.
Bekka; Like carved into it, or was it an actual photograph?
Julie: It was a photograph.
Bekka: Like that baby one in Logan.
Julie: Freaky, his eyes were just really freaky.
Bekka: Weird.
Julie: Yeah. And I guess it was really popular for all the punk kids to go out there all the time, like at
midnight. I don't know actually what they did, but they had to move the grave. They either moved it or
they just took off that tombstone and changed the tomb or something. I think they actually moved the
body because they had so many occult problems out there with the cult people going out there.

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TALES OF THE SUPERNATURAL
Bekka Hanson
Utah State University
Fife Folklore Archives
Logan, Utah
History 489!English 524
Instructor: Toelken
Summer 1991
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List of Informants
Stefanis 8jerregaard - Stefanis is a 20 year old Liberal Arts major from Roy, Utah. She Is a
member of the Kappa Delta sorority. and Is a fairly religious Catholic. She throws
excellent barbecues.
Shaun Federico - Shaun is 19 years old and was born and bred in Cache Valley. He is a
Theater Arts major and tends to be dramatic. He also had a twin brother named
Shane. He's just recently married to Susan Federico. Shaun works with me at the
Center for Persons with Disabilities in the AssistivB Technology Department.
Susan Federico - Susan is 35 and originally from Delta. Utah. She has lived in Logan for
several years, however. She also works with me in the Assislive Technology
Department at the CPO.
Jennifer Harding · (All names have been changed to protect the innocent.) Jennifer is a
pseudonym for a girl who wishes to remain anonymous. She Is 23 and from Corrine,
Utah. She will graduate in the fall with a sociology degree, but should have gone into
fashion design. She is also a member of the Kappa Delta sorority.
Bakka Hanson - I am a 23 year old university graduate who has lived in Logan for five years.
I grew up in Salt Lake City and Magna, Utah. My interests include performance,
research, writing, and working with people. (This is what it says on my resume.)
Julie Johnson· Julie is my roommate and a very good friend of mine. She is 22, and hails
from Drem, Utah. She is quite religious in the LOS faith. She is very musically
talented, and is getting her degree in Music Therapy. She is the middle child in a
family of seven. She has more ghost stories than anyone I've ever heard in my life.
Irving Berlin Jones· Irving is a pseudonym for someone who wishes to remain anonymous,
and after you read ·Shelly's Ghost- I think you'll understand why. This person is 21,
the oldest of seven children, and comes from a strong Mormon background. He Is very
soft spoken and down to earth. He also grew up in Cache Valley.
Joe Pitkin· Joe just turned 21 and also just graduated with a degree in English. He plays
cello and bass, and is an excellent poet. He was raised in Cache Valley, and is from
Quaker background. He's also closely related to a certain member of the English
Department faculty who shall remain nameless (Will Pitkin).
Bill Stanley· Bill is a concert pianist extrordanaire, and has played with the Utah
Symphony. He is 21 and comes from a very non-religious background. He also was
raised in Cache Valley, and is good friends with both Irving and Joe.
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Autobiographical Sketch
First of all, I hate autobiographical sketches because I don't have too much to say
about myself that isn't totally boring. If I sound kind of stupid, please forgive me. I hate to
write about myself. Here's the basics. My name is Bekka Hanson and I am a 23 year old Utah
State University Graduate. I have a B.S. in Psychoiogy, and I liked graduating so much that I
stuck around and got a second B.S. In Philosophy. I would tike to get my Maste(s Degree in
American Studies with and Emphasis on Folklore, and I would like to start on this in the fall of
1991. I was born In Salt Lake City and grew up there and in Magna, Utah. I graduated from
Cyprus High in 1986. I was a poor student. I am the youngest child, and have a brother who
Is 28.
I started out to do a paper on legend-tripping, since I was a legend-tripper, but ended
up basically doing a paper on adolescent ghost stories. I got some really interesting stuff.
My favorite story is "Shelly's Ghost, .. which begins on page 36, if you want to read it. This
paper is very long, and I didn't mean to write a book, but it physically hurt every time I cut
out a story. Some of those pages are pictures, and I also was able to obtain a pamphlet on
Gilgal, which I enclosed. (Pages 27-35.) I really enjoyed doing this paper, and I hope you
enjoy reading it. Usten to the tape if you can, because the people who tell the stories are
what make them interesting.
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Table of Conlenls
Cover Essay .......... ............................................................................................. 1
Ghost Stories From Famous People
"Eric elaplon and the Poster,· Joe Pitkin ................................................. 5
"Three Men and a Baby Ghost,- Susan Federico ......................................... 6
Weird Things From Grade School
"The Pinkie Thing; Bill Sian ley ............................................................... 7
"Bloody Mary: Julie Johnson, Bekka Hanson ............. .............................. 8
Legend-Tripping Stories
"The Logan Cemetery Weeping Woman," Bekka Hanson ... ........................... 10
"The Logan Cemetery Weeping Woman; Shaun Federico ........... ................ 12
"The Logan Cemetery Weeping Woman,"Julie Johnson .............................. 14
·The Provo Cemetery Weeping Woman,· Julie Johnson ............................ 14
"St. Ann's Retreat," Irving Berlin Jones .................................................. 15
"S1. Ann's Retreat," Shaun Federico ................................. ... ..... .............. 16
"Kaye's Cross," Stefanie Bjerregaard ............................. ......... ............... 18
"Emu's Grave," Bekka Hanson ..................................................... ............ 20
"Hobitland or Allan Park," Bekka Hanson ................................................. 22
"The Ogden Cemetery Statue," Stefanie Bjerregaard ............................... 24
"The Devil House," Julie Johnson ................................ ............................ 26
"Gilgal or the Flintstone Park," Julie Johnson, Bekka Hanson ................... 27
Real Ghosts Stories
"Shelly's Ghost," Irving Berlin Jones ......... ...... ............. ...... .................... 36
"Shane's Ghost," Shaun Federico ........................................................ ..... 38
"Allysa," Jennifer Harding ................... ..................... .............. .. .. ........... 39
Stories of the Devil
II Jay's Journal, II Julie Johnson ................ ................... ............................ 41
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-Tales of the Supernatural-
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In our American society today. we are fascinated by the supernatural. AJmost every
popular magazine has either a horoscope or a numerology section. In the July 1991 Elle
magazine, most of the issue was devoted to the occult In the form of tarot cards, runes, and
astrology. In the entertainment media, recent movies such as -Ghost- and -Flalliners· have
used supernatural themes as the basic storyline. and television programs such as ·Unsolved
Mysteries· regularly devote some time to stories that supposedly can be explained by the
paranormal. Papers like the Star and the National Enquirer thrive on such stories, and
regularly feature accounts of the supernatural, whether it be UFOs or actual ghost sightings.
Supernatural events are featured in legitimate medis, too, but usually the emphasis Is to
prove that the events in question were not supernatural in origin. There Is even a
professional psychological society that is devoted to the study of the paranormal. In my
own, very non-scientific research, I was amazed at the wealth of supernatural stories that
are being told by people of my own age group, and, specifically, by my friends. These
stories abound, and the telling of one will often trigger the telling of another In a different
individual. This is all seeminglt incongruous, since we pride ourselves on being a rational
society. People like carl~O;and other noted scientists are very public about their feelings
on the supernatural. We ~hink of ourselves as a society that has thrown away
superstition and has become -enlightened- through our advanced science and technology.
We'd like to think that only uneducated people wouk:J believe In such things. Religion has taken
a beating in this Issue, since God and all the miracles also dwell in the realm of the
supernatural. Yet, seemingly in spite of our advancements in technology and science, things
of the supernatural become more prevalent every day.
Carl Jung made a prediction at the beginning of this century that America and western
society In general would become neurotic, and this wouk:J be due, partially, to our emphasis
on technology. He could see the beginnings of it, and believed it was caused in part by the
industrial revolution. We, as a human species, need an outlet to things of the supernatural,
the spiritual, or, basically, things which cannot be known, since the supernatural Is such a
basic part of our own psyche. Religion used to be our outlet for this. Joseph Campbell
stated in -The Power of Myth- that religion is no longer doing it's job. What religion does for
us now is to teach us morals and ethics. It doesn't give us a way to get in touch with that
supernatural aspect of ourselves. We have become a very neurotic society because we have
denied ourselves an expression of the supernatural. By denying the supernatural, we deny
intrinsic characteristics of ourselves. Consequently, we as a society are terrified of the
supernatural because it is unknown, it is unprovable, and yet it is also within us. Most
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psychologists In all disciplines of the field believe that when the psyche gets too far out of
balance, It will try to compensate. This comes out oftentimes In our dreams. If this
balancing problem Is not resolved, It results In neurosis. Our whole society Is off balance
since we are so technically oriented. and supernatural stories. like dreams, are trying In
part to compensate for this.
We deny there is such a thing as -inspiration: yet individuals who work in -hard­sciences
afe often among those who are most Inspired. In hindsight, they can explain their
methods very rationally and scientifically. In "The Will to Power" Frledreich Nietzsche
warned us of the dangers of living in a technological society. "God is dead," he stated. "God
remains dead. And we have killed him. How shall we, the murderers of all murderers,
comfort ourselves? .. .ls not the greatness of this deed too great for us? Must we not
ourselves become gods simply to seem worthy of it?" And that is what we have done in our
society. It Is looked down upon to have a belief in God or in any form of supernaturalism. In
it's place we have put technology, and the scientific method is the way we worShip. Jean·
Paul Sartre would say we are simply deluding oursetves in a different way. We have
substituted God with the works of man and the order of nature. We do not believe in the truth
of our own spirit, not onfy in a religious sense, but in a non·rational, creative, emotive sense
as well.
We are taught that everything has a rational explanation. We are told at a very young
age that there are no such things as ghosts. We do It so that children won't be afraid of what
we believe Is not there. However, by doing this we deny the affirmation and recognition of
the unknowable. We have no basis for dealing with a supernatural experience. What happens.
then, when an individual has one of these experiences? The most common thing Is just to not
talk about it, which is what Dr. David Hufford found in his research with the old hag
experience. Evidence Indicates that about twenty per cent of the population of any given
SOCiety, including our own, has had this experience. Yet it was completely unknown until just
a few years ago because no one talked about It.
We are victims of our rational society. Those who have had a paranormal experience
set up a logical proof system to show that the event had to be caused by some supernatural
thing. In -Allysa's Ghost- later in this paper, Jennifer Harding tells of an event where helium
balloons moved of their own accord. She lays out step by step why this could be evidence of
a ghost: the beams in the ceiling would not allow the balloons to move, there were no drafts,
and the balloons turned a 90 degree angle. Outsiders to the experience try to explain It
away: there must have been some reason that you overlooked. Even events that completely
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defy explanation can be explained away with -you must have had a hallucination; or -it was
just a trk:k of the mind.- In different societies you could say -I have seen a ghost- and have
that be accepted for what it's worth without any required proofs. Often the person who has
had the experience becomes a person of some renown and respect. In our SOCiety, they are
labeled as crackpots.
On one level. supernatural stories, whether they happen to us personaUy or not.
become a way for us to deal with these kinds of events. These things are very uncomfortable
for us, and the stories become a kind of model for dealing with the paranormal. These
stories start appearing at a very early age, as in the story of -Bloody Mary: and of -The
Pinkie Thing: By doing these things as children and latter on in our teens, we are trying to
associate oursetves with that which cannot be explained.
The ultimate of the unexplainable is the experience of death. As Jean-Paul Sartre said
in -Being and Nothingness: death Is the one experience no one can avoid or put off. Sooner
or later it will happen to us aU. In our technical society, there is no room for death. We
rationalize it as much as we can by understanding the biological aspects of it, but the
spiritual aspect is completely terrifying to us. In one minute there is a living, breathing,
intelligent person here, and in the next there is nothing but an empty shell. Where did that
( person go? Where will I go when it happens to me? What happens after death is the pinnacle
of the unknown.
A strong reaction to this is our emphasis on youth. We want to be the ageless society.
Plastic surgery is a booming industry, the making of old people younger. We don't want to be
reminded of death, and consequently, we have little respect for elderly people. Much of the
time we'd rather put them in nursing homes than have to take care of them In their old age.
We hope for medical breakthroughs that will stop or at least slow the aging process.
The concept of death is a major element in the legend-tripping stories. When we reach
our teens, death starts becoming more of a reality. In my own case, there was a boy In my
class who was killed in a car aCCident when I was a freshman. The thought begins to occur
that death could happen to me. Legend-tripping is a confrontation with death. Oftentimes this
is a direct confrontation, as in the stories where you go to the cemetery to see a ghost or
other apparition. In a non-direct sense, legend-tripping confronts death by confronting the
supernatural. The fear element that is common to aU these types of stories is the
confirmation of life itself. The fact that you are feeling fear means that you are still alive.
But these stories are often about confronting that fear, by actually getting out of the car, and
consequently, being able to draw strength from that experience.
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On a higher lovel, supernatural stories help us come In contact with the unknowable In
ourselves, Joseph Campbell would call" "the journey Inward," Buddhists call It "the
pathway to enlightenment.- We are so afraid of not knowing; we are terrified of the
unknowable. And we deny these aspects of ourselves. Science can bring together all of the
elements of life and actually create organic compounds from basic elements, yet they cannot
make these oompounds live. The process of birth is a supernatural experience In and of
itself. These stories tell us that the supernatural Is alive and thriving in our society, and
perhaps this Is because of our denial of it. The more It Is denied, the stronger It asserts
itself, And in some way, they take the place of the old mythologies, These stories can help
us get in touch with the supernatural in each of us, and help us on our own inward journey.
seeker of truth
follow no path
all paths lead where
truth is here
-8. B. cummings
These stories come from my culture, which means to say that everyone Is between
the ages of 19 and 35, we all come from a predominantly Utah Mormon society, which is
different from a Mormon society outside of Utah, and we're fairly sheltered In comparison
to, say New York, l.A., or Detroit. The drug issue comes out in many of the stories. We
didn't have problems with gangs. Our religious intensity varies widely . . Some of these people
are extremely religious, most come from a religious background and are kind of neutral, and
one was raised in a completely atheistic family. Nevertheless, we all have supernatural
stories of one sort or another. They are independent of religious affiliation.
A lot of these stories are really fun read. Many are humorous, and some are extremely
serious. Some may be easily explained, but the important thing 10 remember is that for the
people they happened to, these stories are very real. The person was effected by It. or the
story wouk:Jn'l have been told at all.
There are five different categories of stories: Ghost Stories From Famous People.
Weird Things From Grade School, Legend·Tripping Stories. Real Ghosts Stories, and Stories
of the Devil. I'll discuss each category as I get to il. All of the Interviews took place In
Logan, Utah, in July of 1991.
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Ghost Stories From Famous People
There are a lot of ghost stories going around about famous people. It seems that people who
don't have any supernatural experiences of their own usually know of a ghost story relating to someone
else. Celebrities are the ultimate ·someone else: These stories tend to be fairly visible among the
members of the specific group that the story would relate 10. Several of my friends who like Eric
e laplon and his music know the story that Joe relates. Many people that have seen the movie "Three
Men and a Baby· know the story Susan relates.
Ghost Stories From Famous People
-Eric elaplOn and the Poster"
Joe Pitkin
July 15. 1991
Contextual Information: Julie, Bill, Joe, Irving and I were al Joe and Irving's apartment. Julie and I
had been telling ghost stories all day. We asked Joe if he had one, and this is what he told us.
Joe: There's one about Eric Clapton and how he wrote -In the Presence of the lord" I ... that's like, it
never happened to me.
Bekka: I've never heard it. Do you know something that happened to a friend? Tell me the one about
Eric ...
Joe: Well. I consider Eric Clapton a friend.
Bill: He's a friend.
Bekka: Go ahead, tell me the one about Eric Clapton and the ...
Joe: Well, like, when Eric Clapton wrote -In the Presence of the lord,- which it is, I guess,
admittedly a departure for, for him, he said that..umm, that it happened, 'cause this was like when he
was, I guess, still addicted to heroin. And ... and he was down at some record shop just buying posters,
and he bought, like, one of Jimi Hendryx and another of something else, I think like Jimi Hendryx and
Janis Joplin. I think is what he said. And he had them, like, rolled up, and he took them home, and he
said when he unrolled them, it was like Jimi Hendryx one, and then in between it, the Jimi Hendryx and
the Janis Joplin, it was this poster of Jesus, that's just sort of like ..•
Bekka: Whoa.
Joe: Yeah, it was Just sort of like Jesus just sitting there smiling, and so he freaked out and wrote -In
the Presence of the lord. - And that's really the only one I know. That's, I mean, I don't know what
happened to it or if he's still got the Jesus poster or if maybe someone slipped it in ...
Bekka: And the guy at the poster shop didn't slip it in?
Joe: J imagine it was probably just like any place, like -buy-two-posters-get-a-poster-of-Jesus­free-
day, and Eric didn't see the sign saying -get-your- free.Jesus-poster day" But I guess he was
really changed by it, so ...
Bekka: That's a good story.
-Eric Clapton and the Poster- has elements that are important to my culture, primarily having
some kind of experience that would cause a person to stop doing drugs. Even though Eric Clapton's
experience could be due to the drugs themselves, or to another easily explained situation, it supposedly
did effect him very much and did cause him to stop doing drugs. This story also has elements of
getting back to religious roots, as well as a lot of pop culture type things (the Jimi Hendryx and Janis
Joplin posters).
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Ghost Stories From Famous People
-rhree Men and a Baby Ghosr
Susan Federico
July 25, 1991
Contextual Information: I quizzed all the people I work with 10 see if they had ghost stories.
Susan: Kay. this is a story from the movie -Three Men and a Unle .... , or "Three Men and a Baby,­And
during the movie, there's a part in the movie if you watch real close when the grandma comes to
visit where you can see a boy in the background. And he is a ghost because his mother called up the
station, after the movie was published she saw it on television and recognized the little boy and those
were the clothes that he was wearing the day he was, he was killed. and that was their home that it
was filmed in.
Bekka: Oh, did you see it in the movie? Have you seen it?
Susan: Um-hum (yes). Yeah, you can see him, he's wearing a red shirt, and you can see him as plaln
as day, right In the curtain.
Bekka: Wow, 00 you know how he was killed?
Susan: Some kind of an accident. I'm not real sure what it was. But he was, he died in the home where
the movie took place where they were filming.
I\le heard this story quite a bit, and it's always pretty much the same. A few of the stories I
heard during the Fife Folklore Conference in June of 1991. This story show elements that are common
among ghost stories, specifically the idea of a violent death in a specifIC place where the ghost
continues to reside. In this story, the boy is still wearing the clothes he was killed in. The fact that he
is a ghost is confirmed by the mother. All these elements are set up to prove that this is an actual
ghost story and not a bad editing job on the part of the movie people.
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Weird Things From Grade School
This type of experience is a Jot more common than I thought it was. Since I\le done my
research, almost everyone I've talked to under the age of about thirty had some kind of little
supernatural activity they did in elementary school. This would seem to Indicate that the need or
desire for supematural contact begins fairly early_ These experiences are a very young form of legend­tripping.
Children are going to a certain place and doing certain things that will invoke some kind of
paranormal activity. Latter the activities become more sophisticated and invoive teen-related
alements, like cars, drug activity, and breaking the law.
"The Pinkie Thing- seems to be a universal Cache Valley activity, at least among the friends I
have that grew up In Cache Valley. The fact that Julie and I both did it in Orem and Salt lake,
respectively, makes me wonder if irs more of a Utah activity. Bill's story contains the primary
legend-tripping element, death, in the form of a simulated violent accident. This story suggests that
even pretend death can invoke a supernatural experience.
Weird Things From Grade School
"The Pinkie Thing"
Bill Stanley
July 15, 1991
Contextual Information: Bill came over to my apartment while Julie and I were telling ghost stories.
( asked him if he had one, and this is what he told us.
Bill: We were In elementary school...
JuUe: Don't go on. I never want to hear any more.
Bekka: Bilt. Just Bill.
Bill: And we used to have ...
Julie: Not Billy, just Bill.
Bekka: Not Joey, just Joe.
Bill: We'd aU gather around .... Would you shut up? We'd all gather around, well one person would Ue on
the ground out behind a tree or something on the playground, and, would lie on the ground, all of us
WOUld, aU the rest of us would gather around him, like two or three on each side, and then one person al
the head, there, with their like hands around the ears, or something. And the person on the head would
like, it would be sort of a chant thing. And we would all repeat after that person. And they would say,
"there's been an accident," and we would repeat "there's been an accident· --rhis boy has been hit by a
car," or something, fallen off a cliff, and he's alt...
Julie: I did this.
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Real Ghosts Stories
These are stories which mayor may not be about actual ghosts. In the three samples I have
here, none of the people believed in ghosts until the strange things began to occur. Irving's story could
have some logical explanations, but Shaun's and especially Jennifer's defy any kind of natural causal
explanation. The Interesting thing about .Jennifer's story is how completely she believes It, and yet
how at the same time she doesn't want anyone 10 know about it She is afraid people will think she's a
crackpot.
It is also interesting that all of these people have a college education. They are not Illiterate
and uneducated. This goes along with what Dr. David Hufford found in his study of the old hag
experience in that, oftentimes, education has nothing 10 do with belief In the supematuraL Many highly
educated and experienced people believe in ghosts. Or. Hufford told of a lawyer who was having regular
old hag experiences. He wrote to Dr. Hufford after reading his book "The Terror that Comes In the
Night- to tell him that he agreed with Dr. Hufford in that this experience was due to sleep paralysis. He
went on 10 say that he now understood that sleep paralysis made it possible for the demons to get at
him.
In -Shelly's Ghost; I think you'll understand why this person chose to be known as Irving Berlin
Jones. Culturally, I think this is a fascinating story. It fits so completely with the drug scene. You
( often hear stories of poltergeists and how they move things and hide things, but this Is the first
poltergeist I've ever heard of that leaves gifts.
Real Ghosts Stories
-Shelly's Ghost-
Irving Berlin Jones
July 15, 1991
Contextual Data: This story was told the same afternoon as Joe's Eric Claplon story. Julie and Bill
were there as well as myself.
Irving: How bout the ghost who \eaves half sheet of acid and bags of pot just lying around the
apartment?
Bekka: This is great. This is good, tell us this story. Tell me your name.
Joe: My name Is Engelbert Humperdink.
Irving: I don't think I want my name associated with this story. (cut) It all started, they found this
half sheet of acid In their freezer. And they were like, -Hmm. Did you leave this here?- -No:
Bekka: Who's they?
Irving: Umm, John ...
Joe: Frank and Bob.
Irving: John and Bob. And John said -did you leave this in the freezer, Frank?- and Frank said -no, I
didn't.-
Bill: Who's Frank?
Irving: -Did you leave it, John?- and John said -oh. that's not mine. - And so they were asking their
friends and their friends, none of them had stashed it there. And it was a kind that nobody had seen
before. So they tried it, and It was just really good, so they were stuck with a half-sheet of really
good acid. And they said ...
Joe: Stuck with.
( Irving: And they said they kept finding like little bags of pot just around, too, which maybe like they
left themselves from smoking so much. The sheet was pan of the adventure.
(
Julie: Edit that pan out, Bek, they didn't leave It, no.
Irving: O.k., the ghost left that, well they said the ghost left It. They couldn't remember Mtaving It and
it would be In weird places, too, like, weird places In the fridge and stuff.
Joe: The ghost that leaves the pot. I never can get a lease (something). Well, hey, here's a half a kil
of coke. wheewll
Irving: And then Da .. um, Larry had a brush with the Incident Just when we were up visiting him. He
was home doing some taping, like dubbing fIVe or six tapes he'd borrowed from friends, and he said he'd
get up and like go find a pencil to write down the songs and come back and the tape cover would be gone,
and he'd look for the tape cover and find it like in the bathroom or in the kitchen, or someplace like not
right around the stereo which is where everything was. And he found one of the tapes under his
mattress, like his mattress was on the floor, so it's not like really weird, like stuck in between the
mattress and his bed, but just on the floor under the mattress. And just weird things like that. And
they claim Ifs Shelly's ghost.
Bekka: Who's Shelly?
Irving: The girl that used to live there before them.
Bekka: What happened to her? Why'd she die?
Irving: She moved to Portland.
Julie: Oh, she moved to Ponland.
Bekka: So she's not dead?
Irving: Well, I've. she's actually a good ghost. She's a good person. too. I've met her, she·s ....
(cut)
Irving: The only tricks she plays are usually not malicious. but it's just stuff like hiding pencils or
books or .••. stuff.
Bill: like bestowing gifts.
Irving: Or leaving gifts.
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·Shane's Ghosr is a rather disturbing story of a violent ghost attack. This happened to Shaun's
twin brother, Shane, while he was staying in California. Shane's first explanation was that it was the
black dude who was out to get him, but it soon became evident that this explanation could nol be
correc1.
Real Ghosts Stories
·Shane's Ghost-
Shaun Federico
July 25, 1991
Contextual Data: I talked to my friends at work about ghost stories. Shaun had several that he wanted
to share. This one is about his twin brother.
Shaun: I've got one about my brother.
Bekka: Kay, tell me the one about your brother.
Shaun: Kay, he moved ...
Bekka: These are great. I love it
Shaun: ... to California, and at the time he was going out with this, with this girl that this black dude, he
liked her. too. And he said. you came ... He threatened him several times when he went like to the
burger bar.
Bekka: Un-hun (yes).
Shaun: In California. And he threatened him several times that he was going to kill him. And Shane
says, ·un-un (no), no you're not,· and, um, so, as he went home that night, he went to sleep. And he,
he didn't get drunk, and he went to sleep, passed out and went to sleep, and then he, all of a sudden,
somebody lifted him up out of his bed, threw him against the wall and said ·oh, crap'· He got his knife,
and he thought, he thought it was the black dude that threatened him, went into his house. And he
started to go like this and duck and there was nobody there. And he was lifted right off the ground.
Bekka: Oh, my gosh. Did he ever see anybody or ... ?
Shaun: Nope. It was he, he just stood there for five minutes off the ground and he Just looked and
(knock, knock) trying to feel the floor. He said that it was the most weirdest feeling that's ever felt.
Bekka: Oh, my gosh.
Shaun: It's freaky.
Bekka: Gee. Thafs pretty good. And did it ever come back?
Shaun: Um-um (no). But the next day he packed his bags and left California. Went home.
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-AUysa- is the most bizarre ghost story I was told during my little research project Into the
supernatural. As in Shaun's story, there is no legend to go along with the events. Jennifer has said
that she would like to go to the county records and see if she could find out what happened, if anything,
on her father's property.
I know Jennifer pretty well, and she's a down-la-earth, very logical person. These events
have bothered her and have frightened her because she has no rational explanation for them. This story
is also un-nerving because the ghost seems to be fair1y hostile. Irs interesting the way Jennifer tells
these stories. She puts forth her argument in a logical and rational way. and tries to explain events
that have nothing 10 do with rationality. I honestly don't know how some of these events could have
occurred unless there is an actual ghost living in her father's house. The events also occur fairly
regularly. Almost every time Jennifer comes back to logan, she has a new story about Allysa.
Real Ghost Stories
-Allysa-
Jennifer Harding
July 23, 1991
Contextual Data: This is the same night that Stefanie told me Kaye's Cross and the Ogden Cemetery
Statue stories. Jennifer had no desire whatsoever to be taped, and I wanted to respect her wishes.
The following is my own paraphrasing.
Jennifer started by saying that there was a ghost in her father's house. He goes on business
trips a lot, and is very careful to lock the doors and turn off all the lights. Many times when he comes
home from his trips, however, the garage door and house doors will be wide open, and all the lights In
the house will be on. Jennifer emphasized the fact that nothing was ever missing in the house, and such
events could not be due to burglary or other similar incidents. Jennifer herself has heard the ghost on
many different occasions. When she stays with her lather, she uses an upstairs bedroom that is by the
stairs. She has often heard footsteps running up the stairs and to the end of the hall, and then back
again. When she goes out to investigate, no one is ever there. She confessed that it makes her very
nervous sometimes, since her father's room Is downstairs and on the opposite side of the house.
Jennifer told us that her niece, whose nickname is Budd, actually saw the ghost when she was
younger. Jennifer said that Budd Is a precocious child and began speaking at a very young age. She told
Jennifer that there was a girl living in the house by the name of Allysa, and that she was about ten
years old. Budd described her as having long brown hair and red eyes, and that she wore funny, old
fashioned clothes. She claimed that Allysa had a favorite toy, which belonged to Jennifer. It was a
stuffed elephant. Budd claimed many times that she played with Allysa. One afternoon, however, when
Budd was about three, Jennifer found her crying in the living room. Budd said that Allysa was very
mad at her and wanted to hurt her. Jennifer tried to comfort her by telling her Allysa did not exist.
Budd then said that Allysa was on the stairs at that very moment and was watching them. Jennifer
picked up Budd and walked towards the stairs. Budd became extremely upset, and kept repeating that
Allysa wanted to hurt her. Jennifer told me that at about age five, Budd didn't see Allysa any more,
and Budd is no longer scared of the ghost.
Jennifer told me of another time about a year ago when Allysa was fairly hostile. She had
invited several friends over to the house and they were watching videos and eating pizza. One of the
boys went downstairs to build a fire. Jennifer said he screamed and came running back up the stairs.
He had a big gash over his eye that was bleeding badly. He said that as he was laying the logs in the
fireplace, something picked one of them up and hurled it at him. The log hit his forehead. Jennifer and
(
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her friends took him In for stitches. None of her friends at that party knew about the ghost.
The last incident Jennifer told me about occurred around her father's birthday. They had gotten
about twenty helium balloons and had put them in the living room. The went Into the kitchen for a while
and when they came back all the balloons were missing. They turned up all in her father's bedroom,
which is down the hall and at a 90 degree turn from the living room. They gathered up the balloons and
took them back to the living room. Jennifer explained that in her father's living room, the ceiling Is
made of oak beams which hang down into the room. The ceiling is nol a flat surface. All three adults
watched the balloons move, one by one, down around the beams, down the hall, make the 90 degree
turn, and end up back in her father's room. She said this happened twice more, and then they decided to
leave the balloons in her father's room. Jennifer also explained that none of the windows were open,
and that her father has a circulatory heating so there are no vents In the house. There were no drafts
to push the balloons along, and even if there were, they would not have been able to go around the
beams.
I asked Jennifer who she thought Allysa was, and she said that there used to be an old log cabin
that adjoined her father's property. It was torn down when her father built his house. Jennifer says
that between where the old cabin used to be and her father's house there is a mound in the lawn that
Jennifer thinks is the right size to be a small grave. She's tried to get her father to dig It up several
times, but he doesn't think that's a very good idea.
Jennifer thinks her father is frightened of the ghost, but will not admit it. He will not speak of
the ghost to anyone outside of their immediate family, and he forbids any of his children to mention it.
Jennifer says he does that because he doesn't think anyone would believe such a story and he doesn't
want to look ridiculous. Jennifer has many of the same feelings herself.
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Stories of the Devil
Every one of the legend-tripping stories in this paper, with the exception of -The Ogden
Cemetery Statue- and '"The Devil House,· also has a devil worshiping story that goes along with h.
This is a really disturbing trend to me. My story of -Emu's Grave- deals almost exclusively with the
fact that my friends and I got chased by what we believe were devit worshipers. I believe that is the
reason why most of the Utah cemeteries are closed after a certain hour at night 11 seems to be a trend
that gets bigger and bigger every year.
Julie had so many of these stories that I could have done a paper entirely on her. She suggested
I title it • Julie Johnson's Bedtime Stories.· Perhaps it's because she comes from Utah county which is
notorious for all the devil cults that supposedly exist there. This is a really Interesting fact since Utah
county is also supposed be the holiest county in Utah as far as the LOS church is concerned.
Julie was not the only one with devil worshiping stories, however. Jennifer knew quite a bit
about Jay's Joumal. Stefanie said that Kaye's Cross is a place where the devil cults meet. Both of
Shaun's legend-tripping stories ended with accounts of devil worship. I myself have a few stories of
this genre.
I don't know why this is becoming the trend in supematural stories. I don't remember ever
telling them when I was younger. I remember starting to hear about the devil cults when I was in high
school, but I'm sure they've been around much longer. I do believe in the devil worshiping cults, but I'm
not sure that all the stories that are told can be accredited to them. If that were the case, either every
other person would have to be a devil worshiper, or they get around a lot
I included this story of Julie's, first of all, because she had so many of them, and secondly,
because I wanted to include an example of this in my paper. h is a fairly typical version of a devil
worshiping story. They usually include contact with demons of some kind, violent acts such as
sacrifices and extreme vandalism, intense secrecy surrounding the cult itself. This secrecy extends to
the point of killing members who want to get away from these practices.
In this version, it's interesting thai Julie says the punk kids go out there all the time. Punk kids
aren't necessarily devil worshipers, but in this story it seems that they are.
Stories of the Devil
-Jay's Journal-
Julie Johnson
July 15, 1991
Contextual Information: This was a banner afternoon for ghost stories. Julie and I were just sitting
around swapping stories.
Julie: Well, I know that out in Pleasant Grove, that Jay's Journal book .. ..
Bekka: Un-hun (yes).
Julie: It's based on, was that journal of the guy thai went devil worshiping.
(
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Bekka: Oh, tell me Jay's Journal. Did you guys go out there and like, see it?
JUlie: Oh, yeah.
Bekka: O.k., tell me this story.
Julie: Well, have you read the book?
Bekka: Un-un (no).
Julie: Well, let me tell you, it goes ....
Bekka: Kay. lell me about Jay's Journal.
Julie: Well it's just about a young teenaged boy. it's about a teen-aged boy who got into devil
worshiping and the journal, he got in deeper and deeper and deeper and he couldn't get out. He tried to
get out and just couldn't ...
Bekka: And he just kept a journal about it?
Julie: Un-hun (yes), and he ended up killing himself, and a friend of mine - I met this guy down in Cedar
City at school, and he was his nephew, of Jay and the grandma still has the gun he shot himself with,
and they still like relive it, like ...
Bekka: How old was he, then?
Julie: He was just a teenager.
Bekka: Well, I mean like generation wise.
Julie: I think It was back in the sixties, I think. It wasn't very long ago, anyway. It was just really
sad. And then his grave it was - I don't know if Pleasant Grove is one of the ones like Provo that has
the ones, all the stand up ones - I don't know if it was unusual if his was a stand up one or not, but, it
was Just a slab, a stand up slab that had a poem on it that said basically -don't do what I did, I fucked up
really bad, - kind of thing. It's a beautiful poem. And then it had his picture of him, creepy as hell.
Bekka; Like carved into it, or was it an actual photograph?
Julie: It was a photograph.
Bekka: Like that baby one in Logan.
Julie: Freaky, his eyes were just really freaky.
Bekka: Weird.
Julie: Yeah. And I guess it was really popular for all the punk kids to go out there all the time, like at
midnight. I don't know actually what they did, but they had to move the grave. They either moved it or
they just took off that tombstone and changed the tomb or something. I think they actually moved the
body because they had so many occult problems out there with the cult people going out there.